Intrepidus Gemini
by hidingwiththedark
Summary: In a town like Mystic Falls, the definition of normal has been lost. This is true for Veena Gilbert in every sense. Veena has to decide which secrets to keep, which ones to reveal, and which are worth giving up everything to protect. All of this and she has sarcastic, cocky, and incredibly confusing vampires to deal with. Rated M for future chapters and strong language.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Vampire Diaries. All rights go to the respective owner.**

* * *

"Do you have _any _idea what you've done?" Damon asks, barely able to contain his rage toward John. Honestly, I'm not too happy with my Uncle at the moment right now as well, so I see where he's coming from for once.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I do." John sets the final piece into the Gilbert device, invented by an ancestor of his same name over a hundred years ago. With one twist of the final piece to the long awaited puzzle, the device releases a loud, high-pitched and painful ring.

Damon and I clamp our hands over our ears. He stays standing for a few seconds, but my knees buckle immediately as I release a pained cry at the sharp pain settling into my head. Covering my ears did nothing for me, I still feel the pain set in like a splitting headache. Damon collapses a few seconds after I do.

I briefly notice John rush over to Damon and inject a syringe filled with vervain into his neck. Damon passes out almost immediately and if I were more able, I would try to get him out of here. John turns to me and pulls a different syringe filled with a silver colored substance out of his jacket.

I gasp at the pinching sensation in my neck, but it's nothing compared to the burning that travels slowly through my veins right before I lose consciousness.

* * *

The sound of something splashing is the first thing I hear when I start regaining my consciousness. Gasoline stains the air, filling my nostrils for a rude awakening. My eyes flutter open and I see Damon lying by my side. He brings a finger to his lips, telling me to stay quiet. I glance over to the stairs and notice John making his way up them, pouring gasoline on every step.

The burning in my veins is still very present and if anything it has only gotten worse. Once John has finished pouring the gasoline, he throws a lighter to it. The fire ignites and travels down every step until it reaches the floor and spreads to some bodies that I assume are vampires. Fortunately, the fire doesn't reach me or Damon.

John shuts the door at the top of the stairs. I immediately let out a sound of pure agony. I may as well be on fire, if the fire in my veins has anything to say about it. Whatever John injected into my bloodstream is taking quite the effect on me.

"Veena? What's wrong?" Damon drags himself closer to me with a grunt. The vervain must be taking quite the toll on him as well.

"John…he did something to me…" I bite out, doing everything I can not to scream at the pain. "I don't know what's happening, Damon…"

"We're getting out of here, okay? Just hang tight."

I press my forehead into the ground and try to take deep breaths. Several grunts and groans and some screams sound through the basement.

"Mayor? Is that you?" Damon asks.

I lift my forehead to look at Mayor Lockwood. Tyler's dad was a fellow with a temper. I had seen that back when Tyler and I used to date. What was he doing in a basement full of vampires?

"What are you doing here?" He asks Damon in a panic.

"I'm a vampire." Damon reveals. That seems to be quite the shock to him, because his face falls and he looks between Damon and I.

"And her? She's one of you, too?" He is completely disgusted, I can tell just by the sound of his voice.

"No, she's not." Damon growls and I realize he's defending me. "She shouldn't _be _down here. What's your excuse? The vervain didn't affect you. You're not a vampire. What the hell are you?"

The mayor scrambles on his feet to back away from Damon, but he backs straight into one of the tomb vampires that hasn't been caught by the fire.

"Mayor Lockwood." The vampire says in amusement, wrapping a hand around his neck and snapping it in one swift move before the flames swallow both of their bodies.

The fire on the stairs die down drastically, leaving only small bits of flames behind and Stefan runs down the stairs. "Damon!" He rushes over to his brother just as his eyes catch sight of me. "Veena?"

"Good to see ya..." I cough and gasp at a significant spike in the burning inside me.

"Get her out of here." Damon commands, pushing himself to his feet. "She's too weak, she can't get out of here on her own."

"What about you?"

"I'll be right behind you, just get her out, Stefan!"

I feel myself being lifted into someone's arms before the wind rushes by our bodies. I'm carefully set on the ground and I revel in the cool temperature the cement offers to my exposed skin.

"Damon, what happened to her?"

"John injected something into her bloodstream. We don't know what it is, but she went down when the device went off."

The voices of the people around me are starting to fade, but I am able to make out the sound of Elena's worried words as she touches my shoulder, trying to get me to respond to her. It's too late, though, and I find myself slipping into unconsciousness once again.

* * *

I woke up in the hospital about an hour ago. I was unconscious for a while, but the doctor says my condition is stable. The burning is gone from my veins and my mind is finally clear.

According to Elena, Bonnie did a spell to take the unknown substance, which happened to be some kind of silvery, shiny liquid with fragments of a mineral called pietersite in it, out of my blood before the doctors took my blood for some tests. As it turns out, she never actually deactivated the magic on the Gilbert device and let all the vampires, and myself, be effected by it. No one knows why I went down when the Gilbert device went off and neither do I. I'm not a vampire. I wasn't supposed to be harmed by it.

Apparently, Tyler was also affected by the loud noise from the device, which doesn't make sense either. It caused him to crash his dad's car with Matt and Caroline inside with him. Matt was fine, but Caroline got pretty seriously injured.

I so badly want to go see Caroline and make sure she's okay, but she's been in surgery for the majority of the day. She's my best friend and I can't stop worrying about her. Now all I can do is wait for Liz to get back to me on her condition.

I desperately need to change my clothes. The fabric of the clothes I'm wearing now has been tainted by smoke and the smell is everywhere. The doctor didn't take more than a couple ounces of my blood and said I should be okay to drive.

I make a quick stop at home to put on some new clothes and take my hair down from its ponytail. After grabbing a few other essentials, I drive quickly back to the hospital. It briefly crosses my mind that maybe I shouldn't be rushing due to the small amount of blood loss, but my body has been keeping up with it, so I decide to go with it while it lasts.

As I walk through the halls of the hospital, I find Elena and Bonnie, who both have worry painted across their features.

"She's weak." Bonnie says when I walk over to them. I instantly know that they're discussing Caroline's condition. Then, with slight hesitation to break the news, she says, "They don't know if she's going to make it…"

"What?" Elena and I ask simultaneously. Fear for my best friend's life settles deep into my chest as Bonnie wraps her arms around the both of us. Bonnie and I don't necessarily get along as well as she and Elena do, but we have our moments and this is one of them.

"Is there something you can do? Like…like a spell, or something?" Elena asks.

"She doesn't know how." I look over my shoulder to see Damon walking towards us. His gaze settles on me for a moment and there's something residing there, some sort of feeling, but I can't put my finger on it. "Do you?" He asks, reluctantly returning his gaze to Bonnie. He already knows the answer.

"No." Bonnie admits, shifting her weight to her other foot. "I don't."

"No, you don't," Damon confirms. "because it took Emily _years _to learn a spell like that."

"Yeah, well I can take down a vampire." Bonnie states confidently and I have to force myself not to roll my eyes. This isn't about who has more power over the other, it's about Caroline. That's what they should be focusing on. "That spell was easy to learn."

Damon ignores her and turns toward me and Elena. "I can give Caroline some blood."

"No, no way." Elena replies immediately. I give her a look of confusion. If it'll help her, why _shouldn't _we do that?

"No, no, no, just enough to heal her. She'll be safe in the hospital, it'll be out of her system in a day, she'll be better, Elena." He tells her. All the points he makes are valid and I completely agree with him for once.

"It's too risky, I can't agree to that." Elena argues. I speak up before she can go on.

"I can agree to it." I say with a raise of my brows. It should be an obvious decision, shouldn't it?

Bonnie nods in agreement. "Do it." Elena gives us both a look, which makes me think she isn't understanding the matter of life and death that is Caroline's situation. "This is _Caroline _we're talking about, okay? We can't let her die."

"I forward that opinion." I tell Elena, hoping that, for once, she can see how much this means to me and how crushed I would be without my best friend.

"Do it." Bonnie tells Damon.

"If I do this, you and me, call a truce?" Damon proposes. I nod at Bonnie encouragingly, but it doesn't seem to do much.

"No," Bonnie replies, as if it doesn't matter. I raise my hands in a questioning manner, because this is _Caroline _we're talking about, but she doesn't tear her eyes away from Damon long enough to see it. "But you'll do it anyway. For Veena."

My hands drop back to my sides as I raise my eyebrows at her statement. What the hell is that supposed to mean? Before I can ask her, she's already walking away with Elena right on her tail.

"I know this is probably the last thing you want to do right now, but we should talk about what happened tonight." Damon is speaking in a low tone and he's directing his words toward me to keep anyone from overhearing.

"Yeah, the Gilbert device somehow had an impact on me and none of us know why." I said, starting the conversation down the path I _thought_ it was meant to go down. "And what about Tyler?"

"What? No, no, not that." Damon shook his head and sighed shortly, looking around to make sure no one was looking at us. "The…other thing."

"What other thing?" I ask in confusion, trying to think back to see if there's something that I'm forgetting.

"Really?" His question is posed more as speculation than it is an actual wondering. "Earlier, on the porch?" I continue to give him a look of confusion, unable to recall anything about a porch. "We were talking, lethargic feelings exposed, come on, we _kissed, _Veena."

I raise my eyebrows at this and give a short, unamused laugh. "_Really? _Is that what happened? That's a _very _interesting story, Damon! You should write a book about it." I comment sarcastically, crossing my arms. I don't like it when people try to mess with me and this is definitely crossing the line. I begin to walk away, but he grabs me by the arm and stops me.

"If you want to forget it happened, fine, but I _can't_." He whispers in emphasis. He's staring me down as if I've committed some kind of crime and he's the victim. My expression begins to soften as I try to rationalize his thinking, but before I can, Jenna calls my name. My eyes break away from his and he lets go of me, turning away from us.

"How's John?" Oh, right, _that _son of a bitch.

"Where have you been?" I question instead, trying to keep my anger towards that man to myself.

Jenna blinks twice before answering, "At the…fire department. I had to fill out a report?" She talks as if she's trying to jog my memory. "I _told _you earlier."

I only grow more confused with each second that passes. "No, you didn't."

She seems confident in her actions when she replies, "Yes, I did."

"No, Jenna, you didn't." I say with a little more conviction, because I _know _this never happened.

She stares at me for a few seconds. "_Yes_, I did."

"_Oh…_" Damon mutters, looking as if he's growing angrier as I grow more confused. "Mmm, you've gotta be _kidding _me."

It takes a few more seconds for the realization to hit me, but when it does, I immediately become pissed off and I know it shows on my face. "Oh, damn it all to _hell_."

The kiss that Damon was talking about… It wasn't me that he kissed and it wasn't Elena.

It was Katherine.

Damon and I share a look between the two of us. He seems…disappointed, somehow. Before tonight, I'd never looked at Damon in a way where I saw something like that between us. In fact, I'd spent my time trying to stay away from him and find an excuse to be bitchy toward him, and he did the same. That hadn't worked. We'd soon realized we were better off just agreeing to disagree, which eventually turned into something that could barely be called friendship, but that's what it was. He had told me things about Katherine and about his brother and about himself that he'd never spoken a word of to anyone else. I had listened and offered a witty comment or two in hopes that it would get a smile out of a man who rarely smiled. It had worked a few times, but more often than not, he held a scowl as he recalled things he wasn't fond of. I could never figure out why I stayed and listened to him complain about his personal shit and I never tried to analyze the situation, because being around him was…easy, in a way. I mean, it's never easy, but it's a break from the real world.

One day when he was telling me about his father, I had built up the courage to ask why he was telling all of this to me, and not someone else.

_"Because you're the only one who's willing to listen to my tragic backstory." He'd replied in a sarcastic manner, taking a sip of his bourbon. It was his favorite drink. "Besides, you just might count as my only friend."_

_The manner in which he spoke was meant to be taken less than seriously, but I sensed there was some truth to his words._

_"Don't let it get to your head, Salvatore." I muttered in the same sarcastic manner. We joked around a lot when one or both of us was intoxicated. Right now it was both of us._

"What's going on?" Jenna asks after a few moments of silence.

Damon breaks his gaze away, which, until now had been fixated on me. He clears his throat and scans the room briefly before returning his attention to me. "I'm going to go see how Caroline is doing. Are you two good here?"

I quickly nod before Jenna might get the idea to hold him here. He needs to go give Caroline his blood and then we can all rest peacefully. "Yeah, we'll be fine. I'll call you later."

He studies my expression again. His eyes are on me and they aren't looking anywhere else. His attention is completely and solely invested in my actions. A question lies in his eyes: _'Are _we_ good?'_

I swallow under his questioning gaze and glance at the floor briefly before nodding, eyes locked on his. "We're good."

He understands this, what I'm trying to say, and leaves us to go help Caroline. I take a deep breath as I try to make sense of how our…whatever this is has taken a sharp turn toward something new, leaving me with a nervous rush of uncertainty that has already rooted itself firmly inside of me. I exhale in disbelief at how fast and surprisingly this has made itself known in my mind.

"So…" Jenna starts, raising her eyebrows at me questioningly. "I think I know what we're talking about on the ride home." She states, inserting some much needed humor into her words. "Feel like explaining to me what that was?"

My eyes watch Damon's figure as it moves further and further down the hall. "If only I knew."

* * *

Damon returned a little while later, offering to give me a ride home. Jenna drove home without me. I had to stay until I knew Caroline was going to be okay, until I knew that Damon had given her some blood and that everything would be fine in the morning. She was beginning to get exhausted when I suggested she take herself home and I would find a way to get there later. I would have driven her, but I had forgotten my wallet at home in my rush to get to the hospital earlier, so I figured it was best if she left sooner rather than later.

"Veena," Damon finally broke the silence inside the car after about a solid sixty seconds of awkward tension between us. "We should talk about—"

"We don't need to." I interrupt. My elbow was against the window as my head rested on my hand. "You kissed Katherine, not me."

He glances away from the road to take a brief look at me. It's silent between us for another long moment before he speaks again. "What if I _had _been kissing you?"

"You weren't."

"Just indulge my curiosity for a second, Veena."

I sigh and lift my head from my hand. "Do you _really _want to play the 'what if' game, Damon? Are you _sure_ that's something you want to do?"

"Abso_lutely_." He answers with a tight smile. I raise an eyebrow and study him as I try to figure out the _what if _perspective of all of this. "Well?"

I resume my previous position, propping my elbow up and resting my head on my hand again. "Things would be awkward between us." I start, crossing my right leg over my left knee. "I wouldn't know how to act around you anymore. We would question every move we make around each other."

He narrows his eyes as the road passes under the car, leaving a blur of white lines against black asphalt. "We wouldn't want that." He states in a way that implies it's already happening. I sigh, because he's right. Things are awkward between us.

"Look, it doesn't matter, because you have all that history with Katherine and _I _don't do feelings."

"No, you like to _pretend _you don't do feelings."

"_No, _I _don't _do feelings, because when I allow myself to care it bites me in the ass every single time." I deadpan, my short temper making itself known. "You should be able to relate, of all people."

This time he doesn't say anything in response. He just looks ahead at the road with a contemplative look. I wish I could see what exactly he was thinking, but I can't.

Within the next minute or so, the car pulls up in front of my house. I immediately undo my seat belt and open the door to the car. Unfortunately, Damon does the same and I shut the car door a little harder than I maybe should have.

When we walk inside, Elena and Stefan are standing apart from each other with heavy looks. Elena seems confused and Stefan's face resembles the expression of uncertainty, that is, if I'm reading it right.

We soon find out that Katherine was just here. Elena walked inside a few seconds before we did. She just barely missed Katherine.

"Did she say what she wanted?" Damon questions, shuffling his weight.

"No." Stefan replies simply.

"Woman certainly knows how to make an entrance." Damon states, seeming beyond exasperated with the entire situation. Frankly, I don't blame him.

"She said she fooled one of us, at least." Stefan tells him, walking closer to his brother. "What does that mean?"

"She pretended to be Veena when I showed up earlier tonight." Damon says, giving me another glance. I don't say anything, rubbing my arm as I look anywhere else.

"I told Jeremy." Elena says as she walks down the stairs and into the living room. "I can't lie to him anymore." She says while shaking her head.

"You alright?" Stefan asks as he moves toward her.

"No, I'm not alright. I thought with the tomb vampires gone, things would get better."

"Yeah," Stefan puts his hands in his pockets and sighs. "We all did."

"Katherine was in the house, that means she's been invited in. What are we going to do?" Elena asks.

There's a few seconds of silence as we all contemplate this.

"Move." Damon suggests with a delayed smile, as if it's the most simple thing in the world.

I roll my eyes and rub at my forehead with one hand, something I tend to do when people are being idiots. Right now, Damon is definitely doing just that.

"Very helpful. Thank you." Elena tells him sarcastically.

"Jackass." I add in under my breath for her.

Damon shoots me a short lived glare before returning his attention to Elena. "Katherine wants you and your sister dead, there's zero you can do about it, you will be dead. But you're not!" He says with fake optimism. "So, clearly she has other plans."

"Right, and we need to find out what those other plans are, _not _provoke her in the process." Stefan interjects. "What happened tonight when you thought she was Veena?"

Damon and I both stiffen, setting our jaws as we look toward each other, then away again.

"To risk another frown line encroaching on a _very _crowded forehead," He says as he moves further into the living room. He has Elena's full attention. She's always been rather protective of me, and I of her. "We…kissed."

"And you thought it was my sister?" Elena questions for clarification.

"What do you mean you 'kissed'?" Stefan asks. I've observed that he becomes protective with anyone who is remotely involved with Damon.

"Well, you know, when two lips _pucker _and they go," Damon points to his lips and starts puckering them. Stefan makes a dash at him, but Damon speeds out of the way and to the other side of the room. "Don't be obvious, Stefan." He advises with a small bit of humor.

Stefan starts toward him again, but I move in between them, holding out my hand in warning. "Okay, buddy, calm down. He kissed Katherine, not me." I assure him. This whole overprotective thing is kind of annoying, but I can appreciate Stefan's intentions. I turn toward Damon. "I wouldn't do that." His smirk drops as we look at each other. I swallow as if I can get rid of the tension between the two of us with the action.

"We don't have time for this, guys." Elena says, stepping closer to the three of us.

"Later." Stefan nods at Damon, who does the same in a more sarcastic manner. He looks absolutely _thrilled _about the entire situation. I sigh to myself quietly, feeling guilty for some reason. He's been through a lot of shit today and I've just made it worse by giving him a hard time.

"John must know something." Elena glances between the three of us. "There has to be a reason why Katherine tried to kill him."

"She's Katherine!" Damon and I say at the same time. This causes him to smirk briefly. I can't help but to do the same, welcoming any sort of lightheartedness to the conversation.

"She _loves_ playing games and you're _fooling_ yourself if you think you're going to find out what she's up to before she wants you to know." Damon continues.

"No, actually," Stefan says. "Elena's right, John could know something through Isobel."

Ah, yes. _Mommy dearest._

"Your mother, she was in touch with Katherine, so maybe we could go to the hospital; get him to talk?" Stefan asks, but the question is directed more toward Elena than anyone else in the room.

"I've got a better idea." Damon says.

Elena turns around and raises an eyebrow. "What's that?"

"I'm just gonna ignore the bitch." He seems so certain, and I can't help but to agree with his tactics.

"Yes, I second that notion, that sounds like a wonderful idea." I say before someone can speak over me.

"Is that smart?" Elena questions.

"If Katherine thinks she's being ignored, it'll lure her out, make her move."

"Yeah? Then what?" Stefan asks.

Damon shrugs. "Stake her. Rip her head off. Something poetic. We'll see."

* * *

"You seriously stayed here all night?" I ask Matt after I locate him amongst people in the hospital. The sunlight shines in through the windows, illuminating the generally gloomy hallways.

"Yeah, with the Sheriff."

"Just the two of you?"

Matt takes a breath and it takes me less than a second to register that something has been bothering him. "Stefan's brother Damon stopped by last night."

I decide that topic is probably not the best path to go down for either of us at the moment. "How's Caroline doing?"

"See for yourself." He says with a hint of a smile.

I follow Matt into Caroline's room. When I get there, she is lying in bed with her eyes on the television screen. She catches sight of us and smiles, sitting up in her bed. "Jersey Shore is on!" She says, eyes locked with mine, her familiar grin firm in her expression.

The sense of relief that washes through me is like a wave crashing against rocks. I rush toward her, taking her into my arms. I feel half of the weight on my shoulders lift with the realization that my best friend is all right.

"Ooh! Careful, still a little sore." She warns and I immediately release her.

"Sorry." I apologize immediately, feeling my eyes build up with a little bit of moisture. "Caroline…" I say, inhaling sharply through my nose. "I was so worried. Everything happened so fast last night and I—"

"Veena, none of this is your fault, okay?" She assures me, grabbing my hand. "You're my best friend. I would never blame you for this, even if it was your fault." She says with a wink.

I laugh through the emotions that are trying to take over. Seeing her alive and well is such a refreshing sight compared to the things I've been dealing with lately.

"My turn." Matt says, stepping in front of me, and before I know it he's pressing a kiss to Caroline's lips.

"Ugh, disgusting!" I whisper dramatically, wrinkling my nose.

"What? I can't kiss my boyfriend whenever I want to?" Caroline questions with a raise of her eyebrow once she's pulled away from Matt.

"Kiss your boyfriend on your own time. It's my time you're wasting." I tease and the three of us are laughing within the next second.

* * *

_"So my vampire blood did its job and healed her, just like it was supposed to." _Damon says over the phone. "_Wow. Shocker!"_

I roll my eyes, but a laugh breaks through the façade anyway. "Yes, your blood was the all-powerful solution." I sit down on my bed and smile faintly to myself. "Thank you, Damon. You have no idea what a relief it was to see her so healthy after what happened."

"_What are friends for?" _He asks. I can hear his smirk in his words and my smile grows before I remember the situation between us.

"Look, Damon…" I begin, tugging at a loose string in my bedspread. "I'm sorry I gave you so much shit yesterday. I shouldn't have made the situation worse by saying the things I did."

"_Hey, don't apologize. It's not like you were having the best day of your life yesterday either. After all, your uncle did have you heavily sedated and thrown in a fiery basement. We all have those days."_

I can tell he's joking once again and I smile instinctively. "Oh, yeah. _Everyone _has psychotic, control freak relatives who attempt to murder their own family. My uncle tried to kill me, your father actually did. I'm expecting something even crazier any day now."

I hear a faint laugh on the other end of the line. "_Welcome to Mystic Falls, sweetheart_."

_"_Why, thank you, kind sir."

_"Speaking of last night, did Bonnie ever find out why you went down when the Gilbert device went off?"_

"Not yet." I reply, straightening my legs out in front of me as I lie down on my bed.

"_What was in the injection he gave you?"_

"Small fragments of a mineral called pietersite. I'd never heard of it before. I looked it up today, and it's actually really pretty—"

"_Did you say _pietersite?"

"Yeah…" I said hesitantly. "Why? Do you know something about this?" There's a sharp break in the call, which I can only assume is caused by Damon setting down the phone. The line is silent, except for the faint sound of pages being turned in a book. "Damon? You still there?" I hear some shuffling on the other end before Damon picks the phone back up.

_"You need to come over here. Now."_

* * *

**A/N:**

**Hello everyone! Welcome to my contribution to fanfiction! I hope you'll give it a read and fall in love with the story like I have.**

**Some of you may know that I started this fanfiction on Wattpad. That was almost two years ago. I started the story with no idea where the plot was going and the whole thing was a mess, really. Long story short, by the time I found out what the general direction I wanted this story to go was, I had lost the motivation to keep writing a story that was absolutely not what I wanted it to be. So, here I am, giving this fanfiction another shot! I really love the story and Veena and I hope you all will too!**

**So, please leave a review and let me know what you think! I'd love to hear some of your thoughts! They inspire me to keep writing. :)**

**Until the next chapter!**

**P.S.,**

**Pietersite ****_is _****very beautiful. Do yourself a favor and look it up!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Finally, I have written another chapter. Thank you so much for all of your support in follows and favorites for this story. **

**I lost a bit of motivation after the first chapter because there's so much in my head that I want to write and I know it will take a long time and a lot of dedication. I'll try to post chapters more often, but we'll see how it turns out with my job and other things that occupy my time.**

**Let me know what you guys think about this story. **

* * *

_**We're jumping from the end of season 1 to the middle of season 2. **_

* * *

I've always found driving to be one of my favorite things to do, especially when I'm alone and I can roll down the windows and breathe in the fresh air. It's much needed when I'm this on edge, as I have been for the past month or so.

Unfortunately, like all good things, my alone time ends as I pull my car into the driveway and park it. There are many places I would currently rather be than my own home, but in the end, it's still the safest place for me to spend my time.

"Elena, is that you?"

To my disappointment, John stands in our kitchen when I walk into the room, toward the fridge. I like to tell myself that food helps subdue the cravings, but more importantly, I like eating.

"Nope, but wouldn't you be so much happier if I _was_ Elena?" I ask. All of my filters are gone as of late, but even more so around John.

"It's no secret that I think your kind is an abomination, I won't hide that." John tells me, giving me that look that tells me he thinks he's better than me on so many levels. "Why isn't Elena here?"

"To be completely honest, she's probably making out with her vampire boyfriend." I deadpan, turning to the pantry when I fail to find anything I want to eat in the fridge. "Sorry if that makes you upset, _Dad._ Your own daughter, dating yet _another_ abomination… Isn't it enough to have just _one_ of your daughters be a failure?" I find great joy in mocking John and I'll make sure he knows it, too. "What are you doing here, John?"

"I'm here to protect Elena."

"From me?"

"From _any _threats, and yes, you fall under that category, Veena."

John looks up as someone new enters the room. His stance and expression soften into something far more positive than what was previously in its place. "Morning."

"What are you doing here?" Elena asks, marching up to him confidently. Her posture resembles an animal ready to pounce on its prey and I can't help but smirk proudly, making my pride in my sister known to John.

"I asked you if she was here and you said no." John accuses.

"No, you asked why she _wasn't _here. I just didn't correct you like I'm doing _right now_." It's no secret I don't like John, but I love to annoy him, and when his face reddens slightly, I take great satisfaction in it.

"Coffee?" John asks Elena, extending a cup to her.

"We're not doing that. We did that last night; no more avoiding. _Why are you here?_" Elena repeats herself. I glance between her and John and throw him a grin followed by a raise of my brows.

"I'm here to protect you." He replies, trying to make it seem like he's only doing what's best for her. "That's all I can say for the moment."

"What do you mean that's all you can say?" Elena asks.

"I'll tell you more when I'm convinced I can trust you."

Both Elena and I scoff and I mutter under my breath, repeating his words with a roll of my eyes.

"Oh, God. I'm late." Jenna says as she walks into the kitchen, but she stops when she sees John.

"Well that's what you get for hitting the snooze three times." Alaric chuckles softly, but the laughter dies out as he also notices John.

"What _the hell…_" Jenna mutters.

"Good morning to you, Jenna." He says with a subtle nod. "Alaric."

"It's okay I'm confused, right, because we were not expecting you, like, ever." Jenna has this passive aggressive way of communicating with John that I can't help but admire.

"I got in late last night, Elena let me in."

I smack Elena's arm. "Dude, what the hell, this is your fault?"

"You know, I'm, uh, probably just gonna take off…" Alaric says to Jenna, nodding. I can't blame him for wanting to get the hell out of here, and he does.

"I'm still confused here." Jenna says once Alaric is gone.

"I decided to come back and stay for awhile." John tells her.

"Not here, you're not." Jenna retorts immediately.

"Actually, you can't stop me from living here."

"_Actually_, I can, as legal guardian."

"Yeah, about that, um, Elena? You want me to explain the situation, or, would you like to do the honors?"

"Okay, what's going on?" Jenna turns to Elena for answers.

"I'm sorry, Jenna, I should've told you earlier…" Elena starts, but she can't figure out what to say next, and John takes the opportunity to interject.

"I'm their biological father." He reveals. "There. Now you know."

* * *

"Veena." Damon says upon opening his front door. He narrows his eyes on the completely full bag I have slung over my shoulder. "Rise and shine." He says as if he's proud of me for being awake before noon. "Why are you up so early? It's not like you to be an early riser."

I sigh softly as I think of the right way to word it. "I had to, um…"

Damon nods in understanding and opens the door wider. "Come on in."

"Thanks…" I walk in and start adjusting the strap of the moderately heavy bag on my shoulder.

"Are you packing the entire state of Virginia in there, or is there a more reasonable explanation?" Damon asks, gravitating toward the mini bar in the living room.

"John showed up at the house this morning." I explain, and he gives a subtle acknowledgement of my problem. "I don't know how long he's staying, but I don't feel comfortable sleeping in the same house as the man who tried to end my life with a flaming basement. I'm sure you understand the feeling."

"More than I'd like to." He admits, pouring some bourbon into two crystal glasses. "What's he doing here this time?" He asks, handing me one of the drinks and swallowing some of his own. I take the offer, holding the crystal between my fingers, taking sips from it constantly. The amber liquid is strong in flavor, but it helps distract from my anger towards John.

"He wouldn't tell me. He claims he _can't trust me,_ like I'm the one to blame for the shit he put everyone through." I throw back the rest of the liquid and cringe slightly at the potent taste. A deep breath circulates through my lungs as I set the glass back down on the bar. Anger is a regular feeling these days, along with frustration and lust. It's all a part of what I am now, and as much as I'd like to, I can't change that.

Damon rolls his eyes and huffs, a laugh of some kind. "And he claims he wants to be a father now."

"He wants to be _Elena's_ father. He would spike one of my drinks with pietersite and kill me if he got the chance to, which he won't." I state firmly, feeling my anger rising with every passing second.

"Do you think he'll tell your family about what you are?" He questions, taking a seat on the couch. His eyes are glued to me, letting me know he's paying attention, that he wants to help relieve some of my anger.

I start pacing back and forth slowly and shake my head. "No. He probably thinks it's best if Elena doesn't know her sister is an _abomination, _as he would like to think."

"So you went out earlier, subdued the cravings?"

"For now. It won't be very long until the craving returns."

Damon nods slowly and finishes off the rest of his bourbon. He sets the glass down on the coffee table and opens his mouth to say something, but stops himself when the front door opens.

Stefan shuts the door and steps down from the single step that leads into the living room. "Did I just walk in on something?"

"No." I answer before Damon can come up with a rude retort. "What's up?"

"John's back in town, as you probably already know." Stefan tells me and crosses his arms as he looks between me and Damon.

"Yeah, I do." I cross my arms as well and raise my eyebrows expectantly. "How do _you _know?"

"He's here to help us with Elena."

"I'm sorry, _what?_" I ask him, my eyes widening. "Did you have something to do with this? He's here because of _you?_"

Stefan sighs and eventually nods to confirm my thought. "Yeah, he's here because of me."

"You brought back _John Gilbert_?" Damon questions, somewhat angrily. "That was your big _save Elena _move?"

"I went to go look for Isobel and I got John instead." Stefan explains in defense. "He said he could help us and…we're desperate."

"Yeah, but not _that _desperate, Stefan." I tell him, still shocked that he thought _John _was a justifiable solution to our problem.

"We're not that desperate, Stefan, the guy tried to _barbecue _me." Damon retorts and I nod in agreement.

"Does John locking us in a flaming basement ring a bell?" I ask Stefan, trying to understand how he let John back in town.

"Bonnie's new witch friend is working with Elijah, so we have to assume the moonstone was never destroyed. Elena is putting all of her faith into some deal she made with Elijah to keep everyone safe. I mean, do you _trust _Elijah? I don't trust him, he's an Original, he can't be trusted! It's not like we can just go up and kill him, because apparently, he can't die."

"Still waiting for the part where John Gilbert's the answer." Damon says.

"He knew about the sacrifice. Isobel told him. He said that he knew of a way to keep Elena safe."

I sigh and close my eyes, trying to prevent an inevitable headache just from the idea of having to work with John to save my sister.

Damon seems to contemplate briefly before he asks, "And how do we do that?"

"He's not talking. At least, not to me, anyway."

"Great work, Stefan. _Top notch_; as if I didn't have enough problems." Damon says to his brother before turning to leave.

"I'm sorry about Rose." Stefan says before Damon disappears.

Damon stops and I hold my breath. I've tried talking with him about this and it's all ended in some kind of statement where he claims he doesn't care.

"Whatever, I knew the woman for five minutes."

"Well, you cared about her. After 'five minutes.'" Stefan retorts and I start shaking my head at him. He could push this too far and make Damon snap. "Wonder what that means."

"It means I _care_, Stefan." Damon tells him, putting on a show to suggest he's completely serious. "It means I'm _changing_, and evolving into a man capable of greatness." I try to hold back a laugh that gets caught in my throat and I place a hand over my mouth to conceal my amused smile. "Better watch your back, 'cause I may just have to go get a hero hairdo of my own, and steal your thunder." With that, he makes his leave of the room.

I take a moment to wipe the smile off of my face before I turn toward Stefan. It's obvious that he knows Damon was joking, but I can see that Stefan wants it to be at least a little bit true.

"Well," I start, my mood having been improved by Damon's sarcastic remarks. "I think we know which brother is better with humor." I say, raising my eyebrows and throwing a smirk toward him. "Although, that thing you said about being the one who brought John back into our lives," I shift my weight from one side of my body to the other and give him an expression that lets him know of my displeasure with the situation. "that was pretty funny."

"I know you and John have had your arguments, but he can help us save Elena." Stefan says, trying to reason with me. "You want to save your sister, don't you?"

"Of course I do, Stefan." I retort immediately, narrowing my eyes at him. "But let's take a good, long look at what John's idea of keeping Elena safe is, shall we?" He gestures for me to continue. "Do you honestly think I'm a part of that picture? You know he hates what I am; his idea of keeping Elena safe will probably include making sure I'm dead."

"We're trying to keep _both_ of you safe, we won't let him get near you." Stefan promises.

"What, are you going to make sure you or Damon are by my side at all times?"

"He probably won't even go after you. Elena would hate him if he did anything to hurt you and he doesn't want that. She already hates him enough for the flaming basement incident."

"Yeah, but she doesn't know _why _he did it." I snap, becoming angrier with the situation. "He would try to justify his actions by telling her and everyone else about me after I'm already dead. Do you know what kind of damage that would do to her? To Jenna and Jeremy? The only thing they would be able to think about is the fact that I _lied _to them, that I didn't trust them enough to tell them about this."

"Why haven't you told them?" Stefan asks. "I understand why you haven't told Jenna or Jeremy, but Elena? Caroline? They both know about the existence of supernatural creatures, they just don't know about the kind of supernatural you are."

"They wouldn't understand."

"I understand. Damon understands. They'll understand, too, Veena."

Although I'm upset with Stefan, it doesn't take away from the fact that he's my friend. I know he wants to help me and I know he truly thinks that my friends and family will accept what I am.

I just can't imagine tell them I'm a succubus.

* * *

A few hours pass before the craving is back full force, as strong and impatient as it's ever been. It's persistent and constant and _loud _and I have to satisfy it before it becomes more dangerous than it already is.

After touching up my makeup and curled hair and changing into leather pants and a simple black tank top, I make the five minute drive to the Grill. It's not long before I'm taking a seat at an empty table, all alone, searching for someone suitable enough to satiate my craving. I pick up the menu and pretend to look through it as my eyes scan the restaurant. The urge to feed becomes more insistent as I acknowledge what I am in this moment; a predator searching for its prey.

"What's a lady like you doing here alone?" A tall man with dark hair sits in the chair across from me, grinning like an idiot as he makes himself comfortable.

"What's a guy like you doing assuming I'm here alone?" I retort with a smile that is only meant for testing the waters to see if he'd be good enough to feed from.

"Well, I saw you walk in here by yourself. It was hard not to notice you, being as stunning as you are." He tells me with a wink.

"You don't even know my name yet, and you're already hitting on me." I point out, though I do so playfully, even with as much as it actually does bother me.

"Oh, you haven't seen anything yet, sweetheart." He says confidently with a smirk on his lips that could become permanent with how long he's been holding it.

"_Really_?" I ask, pretending to be intrigued. "Well, then why don't you just shoot?"

He clears his throat and leans forward, placing his elbows on the table to support himself. "You look great and all, but you know what looks really good on you?"

Oh, god, not this one.

"Me." He finishes, clearly satisfied with himself.

"Something tells me you can do better." I tell him, but laugh anyway, just to keep him going.

He raises his eyebrows, but seems to enjoy being challenged, as he launches right into another one.

"The only STD I have is sexually transmitted desire for you."

"Is that all?" I ask with a smirk of my own. I don't even have to ask him to keep going before he does so anyway.

"If it's true that we are what we eat, then I could be you by morning."

"Hey, I'm looking for treasure. Can I look around your chest?"

"Wanna sit on my lap and we'll talk about the first thing that comes up?"

"Can I buy you a drink, or should I just give you the money now?"

"Okay, stop." I tell him before he can go on. He seems slightly thrown off by my interruption and the fact that I've lost all interest. "First of all, those lines are terrible. Second of all, please _never _use them on anyone, _ever _again, _especially _the last one. Not every girl who sits down in a bar is looking for sex and implying that they are a prostitute is insulting and incredibly rude. Third of all, your arrogance is not attractive."

He hesitates before he begins laughing, which tells me he thinks I'm joking or being ridiculous. "I'm _not _kidding." I tell him, completely serious. His face takes on an offended expression, but before he can say anything, I shake my head. "You can leave now." With the words, I add in a bit of influence on his mind, something that I've learned is a perk of being a succubus. It's not as effective as compulsion, but it works most of the time and it'll still let him get away thinking that he decided this himself. He stands up and begins walking away "Remember what I told you." I tell him. He looks back at me one more time before exiting the Grill entirely.

I resume my search for the person that will be able to fulfill my hunger and it doesn't take long to find someone. A man sits at the bar, alone, a drink in his hand. He's been here since before I walked in and I'm pretty sure he's had a few drinks already. I stand up and make my way over, sitting on the empty stool next to him.

"Hey, I'm—" I stop when I see who it is. "Of course…" I mutter to myself, almost ready to give up on the idea of feeding tonight.

"I can sense your excitement about seeing me. It's overwhelming; you might want to bring it down a little." Damon says with a slight smirk.

"Why are you here?"

"Oh, I just had a fun little chat with Uncle John." He says with fake enthusiasm.

"And?"

"Nothing. The man doesn't want to fess up about his magic plan to save Elena."

"So, my friend wants to meet you." Jenna says as she walks up to Damon with another woman. She's the girl on the local news…what's her name again? "Damon Salvatore, this is…"

"I know you." Damon says as he takes in her appearance. "The news lady."

"Yeah, Andie Star, nice to meet you." She says with a smile. She seems nice enough, but as a succubus, I can sense how attracted she is to him. It's nauseating, so I awkwardly get up from my seat and walk over by Elena, where I can observe the interaction without being right in the middle of it.

Damon just nods and gives a weak acknowledgement of her words. She seems thrown off for a moment before she gathers her courage and asks if she can buy him a drink. "My glass is full, Andie. Thank you." He says and stands up, walking away from her, and over to me and Elena, who also witnessed their interaction.

"Well, that's one way to turn someone down." I say, watching Andie and Jenna walk to the back of the restaurant.

"I'm steering clear of all women at the moment." He says, though he doesn't sound convincing.

"You didn't have to be rude." Elena says.

"It's in the best interest of women everywhere." His words are enough for me to get the hint; he doesn't want to talk about it anymore.

A ringing sound is emitted from Elena's pocket. She takes it out and looks at the caller ID before pressing answer and holding it up to her ear. "Stefan? What is it?"

The expression on her face worries me. Soon enough, she's done with the phone call and the three of us are in the women's bathroom, discussing it.

Caroline was being tortured by some werewolf chick because of Tyler. That was all I needed to know and it didn't make for a very happy mood.

"Why am I just finding out about this _now_?" Damon questions, looking back and forth between me and Elena as he waits for an answer.

I shrug and look over at my sister, waiting to see what she has to say about it.

"Stefan was worried that you would—" She starts, but Damon cuts her off.

"That I'd do what, that I would kill him?" He asks, and Elena nods. "Of course, _that's what needs to happen!_" He whispers dramatically.

"No, Damon, not Tyler, do whatever you need to do to get Caroline back, but just leave Tyler out of it, okay?" Elena says, expecting him to just go along with it.

"Why? He's a werewolf, he needs to die, I'm willing to kill, it's a win-win!" He argues back, clearly not seeing what Elena's trying to say.

"Damon, _please…_" Elena places her hand on his arm and he tenses slightly. I raise my eyebrows at the interaction, feeling awkward standing there beside them. "Too many people are dead…"

"You need to stop doing that." He tells her intensely, looking at her with a firm gaze.

"Doing what?" She asks, lowering her hand from his arm. She's playing stupid right now. She knows exactly what she's doing, I know her too well to miss when she does something with a purpose.

"Assuming that I'll play the good guy, because it's _you _who's asking." He answers.

She sighs. "Be the better man, Damon." She says with a meaningful look that's meant to persuade him.

I feel as if I'm intruding on some kind of moment. I had no idea that Damon and my sister were so…close. It's an odd feeling, discovering that Elena's gaze held more than it would when she was talking to someone who was an acquaintance.

Luckily for me, I don't have to feel like I'm the only one intruding, because John storms into the bathroom seconds later, and I'd much rather blame intrusion on him.

Elena sighs and looks away from John. It's obvious she doesn't want to see or speak to him at all right now, much like me.

Damon looks over his shoulder at him and raises his eyebrows. "Do you mind?"

"What's going on?" John questions.

"Nothing." Elena exclaims in annoyance.

"It doesn't look like nothing." He says, glancing at the close proximity between the three of us.

"You're intruding on a private conversation and no one wants you here." I deadpan, giving him a fake smile which quickly turns into a glare.

"And guess what, John, trust works both ways, _get out._" Damon tells him. I smirk at the presence of another person being rude to John with me. It brings me great satisfaction.

"Look, we don't have time for this; we need to get Caroline back." Elena tells Damon and I, referring to our attitude toward John.

"We don't need to anything, I'll take care of it." Damon says, turning around to face John. "First Dad duty, ground your daughter, keep her here." He says as he leaves the bathroom.

"I'm coming with you." Elena says, but John steps in her path, blocking her from leaving.

"No, no, no, I'm with Damon on this one." Elena tries to refuse, but John keeps cutting her off and stopping her from going, increasingly annoying the both of us. "Stop, stop. Just tell me what's going on."

"Stellar parenting skills, John, really." I say to him, narrowing my eyes and moving to leave, but he stops me as well.

"You honestly think I'm going to let you leave?" He asks me, letting his hate for me show in front of Elena, something he makes sure never to do.

"You honestly think I'm going to let you be a father now when you've never been one before?" I retort angrily, curling my hands into fists by my side.

"I am your father, whether you like it or not—"

"No, John, you're a disappointment, to me, _and _Elena." I snap at him. "So quit being a fucking asshat," My vision goes black and white, letting me know the entire surface of my eyes has gone completely black, revealing my true nature. "And _step. Aside._"

John looks angry, but he knows he can't do anything to me, not in front of Elena. He reluctantly steps aside and my eyes return to normal.

"Come on, Elena, let's go." I say and make sure she exits before I do so John can't stop her again.

* * *

"I don't know where they're keeping her, Stefan wouldn't tell me." Elena says as I drive us away from the Grill and away from John.

"We'll find it." I state confidently, although my heart is racing in nervousness for my best friend.

_Tyler fucking Lockwood. _

"Thanks for getting us out of there." She says, but she sighs tensely. "I don't know how you did it, but it worked."

I laugh softly and glance in my rearview mirror. "I'm pretty scary when I want to be."

"You said everything that I've been wanting to say to him for days and to see the look on his face was so…" She trails off, looking for the right word.

"Satisfying?" I ask, wondering if that is the word she wanted to use to end her sentence, because it's the one that works for me.

"Very much so." She agrees. "It honestly did look like he was scared of you…more than when he's around Stefan or Damon." I glance over at her and I can see that she's somewhat confused and contemplating the situation. "Why would he look at you like that?"

"Come on, we both know he hates me." I say, trying to use his hatred as a perfectly justifiable excuse as to why he looked at me like a monster.

"Why?" She questions, looking over at me. "Did something happen between you two?"

Shit, why is she getting suspicious? She didn't see my eyes when I looked at John, just the way he reacted. "We're just not very fond of each other."

"I can tell when you're lying to me, you know." Elena says, and I raise an eyebrow. Am I really that obvious? "You ball your hands into fists, but in this case, since you're driving, you're gripping the steering wheel."

"You've got me all figured out." I say in a tone that would suggest I was joking, but she doesn't fall for it now. I know she's trying to figure it all out in her head and she'll probably start asking other people if I don't tell her myself.

I've really got to start getting my shit together, or this whole thing will blow way out of proportion soon.


	3. Chapter 3

**This chapter has some NSFW content so be prepared. It's the section where everything is in italics. Just thought I'd warn you if you'd rather read the story without any smut in it. **

* * *

Despite my determination to find Caroline, wherever she was, Elena and I ended up going home empty handed and waiting for news.

I can't stand the thought of something happening to Caroline. She's my best friend and we've been through so much. If I lost her, I don't know if I'd be able to handle it.

Water runs over my hands as I wash up in the bathroom off of the kitchen. My hands are trembling slightly with the unfulfilled urge to feed. I'll have to take care of that soon or I could hurt some, maybe even Elena. I can't let that happen.

Once I shut off the water and dry my hands, I hear a faint voice from the kitchen.

"I'm sorry about earlier."

John. Of course, that's just what Elena and I need right now.

"Enough already." Elena says in annoyance. "I don't want you here and I can't make that anymore clear."

"I didn't come here to fight with you, Elena." He tells her, growing quieter. I focus my hearing on the conversation and find that I can hear them better now.

"Yeah, I know, you're here to protect me." Elena says as if it's a joke. "Got it. Get in line."

"I thought you might want this." He tells her, piquing my interest. I quietly open the door and peak around the corner of the wall so I can see what it is. "It was your mother's." In his hand is a silver bracelet with a few charms on it.

"Isobel?" Elena questions, eyeing the bracelet. That's who I'm assuming as well, so I'm surprised by his next words.

"No, your mother, Miranda. I remember her wearing it when she was young. Found it in a box of some things that your dad left."

His words are like ripping off a bandage and exposing an unhealed wound. Looking at this bracelet feels like I've lost my mother all over again.

"Here, it's yours now." John says, letting the bracelet fall into Elena's hand. She studies it with her eyes, which are beginning to water. "_Miranda and Grayson_ were your parents, Elena. I know that I'm…nothing to you. You have no reason to believe me or…trust me. I've done only horrible things, but when you lost your parents," He pauses and nods to himself, considering the situation. "I lost my brother, my family. I lost my way. I'm probably never going to make things right with you, and I know that, but I'm going to do everything I can to protect you, and protect this family." He takes a deep breath and looks at Elena for a few seconds.

I've never seen him this emotional before, not even at the funeral for our parents. It's strange to see someone I've associated with anger and frustration being kind toward someone, even if it's not me.

John pulls another piece of jewelry out of his pocket, along with a folded up note. He hands them over to Elena. "Could you give this to Veena for me? This ring was also your mother's. She should have something of hers as well."

Elena nods through her tears and holds the items close to her chest as John leaves. I feel a tear of my own slip down my cheek and quickly wipe it away. Elena looks up and notices me lurking just beside the entryway to the kitchen.

Reluctantly, I walk over and take the ring and paper from her. The ring is a silver band that holds a very familiar stone.

Pietersite.

I half expect the stone to burn my skin, but it doesn't. The night that John injected it into my vein, it was mixed with a silvery substance.

I set the ring down on the counter and open the folded paper.

"What does it say?" Elena asks, her voice strained as tears continue rolling down her cheek.

_Veena, _

_I know we've had our differences and I've done things to make you hate me. While I believe the existence of your kind is dangerous, it does not take away from the fact that you and Elena are my family. Family should look out for each other, something that I have failed to do with you. Even if we cannot mend our relationship, there is one thing we both want; Elena safe and out of the way of harm. _

_Previously, I believed you were a threat to her. Admittedly, I'm still not sure I can completely trust you. However, I have realized that there are far bigger threats to her safety than you. I have seen the way you regard her as an equal and as your family. I know you'll do __**anything **__to protect her. _

_The ring I gave you contains a pietersite stone. The stone itself will not hurt you unless mixed with mercury. The bracelet I gave to Elena contains a smaller pietersite stone. If you both wear these pieces of jewelry at the same time, you will be able to stay connected to her at all times. You'll know when she's in danger and you'll know what you have to do to get her out of it. Elena doesn't know about this, which gives you an advantage if she tries to run off and make more deals with Elijah or other vampires. _

_I have faith that you, Stefan and Damon will all do whatever you can to protect her. Don't let me down._

— _John_

I quickly fold the paper back up and stuff it in my pocket to prevent Elena from seeing the words John has written. As much as I hate it, he's right. Our top priority is keeping Elena safe, which means she can't know about the ring and bracelet being connected.

Luckily, I don't have to worry about Elena trying to snatch the letter. Stefan is in our living room, calling to her when he sees the tears on her cheeks. She quickly runs over to him and he envelopes her in his arms.

"Are you okay?" She asks him.

"I'm fine."

"Did you hear that?" He nods in reply and she shakes her head. "I don't believe him, Stefan… I just don't."

I slip the ring on my finger and wipe any leftover tears from my cheeks before walking over to Stefan. "Where's Caroline? Is she okay?"

Stefan and Elena separate from each other and he looks between us. "I could use your help."

* * *

Stefan knocks on the door to Caroline's house and offers a smile to Caroline through the glass of the door, waving with his hand. She opens it and gives him a smile in return.

"Hey…"

"Hey." He replies, hands stuffed in the pockets of his leather jacket.

"What's going on?"

"I was worried about you," He tells her with a kind expression, to which she tilts her head to the side. "After everything you went through tonight."

"I'm fine." She tells him quietly with another reassuring smile, doing her best to put up a brave front.

"Well., good, but just in case, I brought some backup." He says, gesturing over to his side.

Elena, Bonnie and I step up onto the porch with our bags that hold pajamas and everything else we need for tonight.

"We're gonna slumber it." Elena tells her, walking up to her.

"We haven't done it in ages." Bonnie says with a smile on her face as she follows Elena's lead.

"We'll watch all the chick flicks you want and eat unhealthy snacks." I say with a grin as the three of us hug her. She laughs in appreciation, doing her best to not cry. I'm not usually one for hugs, but I can tell she's on the verge of tears, so I hug her tighter to me as Elena and Stefan mouth something to each other before he leaves.

* * *

After we all set up our sleeping arrangements and put all of our junk food on the coffee table in the living room, we went through all of Caroline's movies and picked one to start watching. The movie played in the background, but we all got caught up talking with each other instead of actually watching the movie.

As soon as the movie finished, we all climbed into Caroline's bed, which was a very tight fit. Nonetheless, it didn't take long for everyone to fall asleep, except for me. I have a hard time falling asleep with the urge to feed still ever present. My hands tremble slightly and there's a slight nervous flutter in my chest. I have to do something about it before it gets out of hand.

I slowly slip out from under the soft covers on Caroline's bed and grab my phone from the nightstand. My feet make almost no noise as I exit the bedroom and go into the living room, where I'll be able to speak better on the phone.

I go through my contacts and find Damon's name in my phone. I take a deep breath and hit call.

"_There better be a good reason as to why you're calling me at one in the morning._" He says immediately after answering the phone.

"Damon, I need your help." I tell him quietly.

"_Why, what's going on_?" He asks, quickly dropping his snarky attitude.

"I'm sleeping over at Caroline's with Bonnie and Elena and I haven't fed in almost forty eight hours." I rush out, worried about someone walking in on me. "My entire body is trembling, and I feel really warm. Damon, I don't know what to do. I can't just leave, they'll notice I'm gone."

"_Okay, okay, calm down, alright_?" He says in a soothing tone. "_Here's what you need to do_. _If the urge to feed is really that persistent, you've got to take care of it before you lose control of it._"

"I know, Damon, but I can't leave and I can't take energy from one of them!" I argue frantically, feeling more and more nervous with every second that passes.

"_I know, I know…"_ He sighs and I can hear the faint sound of movement on his end. "_Give me two minutes, okay? I'll be there soon._"

I raise my eyebrows in shock. "Are you saying I should take energy from you?"

"_Who else are you going to feed from at this time of night_?"

"Are—are you sure?" I ask, surprised by his willingness to help me in this way.

"_Hey, listen to me. I'll be fine, okay? Just wait outside and I'll meet you there._"

Before I can respond, he hangs up the phone. I curse quietly to myself and sigh as I stuff my phone into the pocket of my pajama shorts.

"Is everything alright?"

I jump at the sudden sound behind me and whirl around to see Caroline's mother in the hall. She seems worried and also suspicious.

"Oh, Liz…" I exhale in relief. "You scared me."

She smiles in response, wrapping her arms around her arms, covered by the material of her robe. "Sorry to startle you." She apologizes and I make sure to let her know it's not a problem. "I just heard some noise out here and I had to check it out. Being a cop makes you be on alert at all times, especially in this town."

"Yeah, I'm sorry for making noise. I've just gotta get some fresh air." I tell her, knowing Damon's probably already outside waiting for me.

"Alright. If you need some water, just go ahead and help yourself." She says. "Oh, and be careful out there." She tells me seriously and walks back to her room.

"Thanks." I whisper after her, narrowing my eyes when she turns around. Once she's in her room again, I make my way outside.

"What part of _wait outside_ did you not understand?" Damon asks as soon as I shut the front door behind me.

"I'm sorry, Liz came into the living room to make sure no one was robbing her house." I tell him with a sigh. "I guess I wasn't being as quiet as I thought." I say as we walk around to the side of the house, far enough away from one of the windows so no one will see us.

"Alright, how do we do this?" He asks, getting straight to the point.

"It's—" I start, but cut myself off and sigh, deciding to just get it over with. "I have to kiss you."

He raises his eyebrows and smirks widely, crossing his arms and giving me a pleased look. "Oh?" He asks, leaning against the side of the house.

"And you have to be—"

"What, attracted to you?" I nod and he does what Elena calls the _eye thing_. "That won't be a problem."

Now it's my turn to smirk, somewhat proud of myself. "Is that so?"

He rolls his eyes and holds his arms out by his side expectantly. "You need to feed, so do you want to do this or not?

"Yes." I admit, feeling the craving like an intense burn in the pit of my stomach.

"Good." He says simply before pushing me until my back is against the side of the house. The action takes me by surprise and I don't have enough time to recover from the shock before he's placing his hands on each side of my jaw and his lips are on mine. It takes a few seconds for me to close my eyes and relax into the kiss. When I do, he lowers one hand and wraps his arm around my waist, pulling me closer to him as I wrap my arms around his neck and return the kiss.

The need to feed is more present now than it has ever been. I pull away slightly to let him know so he can prepare himself.

"I have to—"

He nods in understanding and continues kissing me, making the urge stronger, and before I know it, his energy lifts out of him in a white smoke-like appearance and I breathe it into my lungs. The feeling has become so natural to me now and I enjoy it more than anything. Damon seems to notice the lessening of his energy as it escapes through his lips and into mine, as he stiffens slightly. I can tell he wants to pull away at the strange feeling, but he doesn't. He stays close to me and helps me take what I need.

I force myself to stop after a few more seconds so I don't end up seriously hurting him. Reluctantly, I pull away from him, grudgingly noticing how much I didn't want to stop kissing him. Once I regain complete control of myself, I study him, trying to gauge his reaction.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah," he says, though his voice is a bit raspy. "Damn…"

"What, did I hurt you?" I ask, instantly becoming worried for him.

"I'm fine." He tells me, although he has put one hand against the wall to help support himself. "Just give me a second."

I nod and watch while he seems to be catching his breath. I tilt my head to the side while he collects himself. "What's it like?" I ask. I've never asked anyone what it felt like to have their energy taken away from them. Most of them pass out afterward with no recollection of what happened to them. I have to take the memory away from them or else they'll cry wolf to the entire town.

"It's…odd." He says finally, eyes closed for the moment. "I'm tired, but I can feel myself slowly recovering. Must be a vampire perk." He opens his eyes and clears his throat when he notices how close we still are to each other. "Do you feel better?" He asks, but doesn't move away.

"Yeah, I'm…great." I tell him, gazing at him in appreciation for what he's done for me. "Thank you."

He nods slowly, eyes traveling over my face. "Good." We've never been this close to each other before and it's…strange. It's not uncomfortable, but I will deny to myself how _not _uncomfortable it is. He takes a few steps back and clears his throat. "You should go back in there before someone wakes up and notices you're gone."

"Yeah, I should." I agree, pulling my tank top down from where it has risen up on my waist. When did that happen? "Thanks again, Damon. I owe you one."

"I'll let you know if I need something." He says with a subtle wink as we walk back to the front of the house.

I laugh softly. "Goodnight, Damon."

"Goodnight, Veena." He replies and I give him one more grateful smile before heading back inside.

I make sure to shut the door quietly, trying not to wake anyone up, but it doesn't seem to matter. When I turn around, Caroline is standing there, waiting.

"Welcome back." She says.

"Hey, sorry. I needed some fresh air." My hand pulls at the bottom of my tank top again to make sure it's in place.

"What was Damon doing here?" She asks curiously. I open my mouth to say something, but all that comes out is a puff of air. _Shit, Veena, think of something! _"Okay, I'll try a different question." She says, taking a step forward and raising her eyebrows. "Is he a good kisser?"

I stumble with my words, but manage to get out a coherent sentence. "Caroline, it's not like that, I swear—"

"Then what _is _it like, Veena? Should I take you kissing Damon as something else?"

"Caroline, will you quiet the fuck down please?" I whisper, although the words are as loud as a whisper can be. "If I tell you this, you have to swear that you will keep your mouth shut about it. Okay?"

Caroline's expression has changed from slightly pissed off to worried in a split second. "Yeah, of course. What's going on? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." I assure her, looking around and listening to make sure no one else is awake. "I'm a succubus. Damon was here because I had to feed. He was willing to help and I had no other option." I tell her quietly, doing my best to not meet her eyes, but my curiosity gets the better of me. I have to see her reaction. My eyes finally flick back to her. She looks confused and shocked and even more worried than she was before.

"When did this happen? Who did this to you?" She questions quietly, though her tone is slightly panicked.

"Nobody did this to me, Caroline." I assure her. She visibly relaxes, but she's still confused and anxious. "It just…_happened_ a couple weeks ago."

"Is that why you've been so on edge lately?"

"Yeah. I still can't go two days without feeding, so I've been nervous and…and _anxious_ all the time." I explain quickly. "Look, you won't tell anyone, right?"

"Yeah, of course. I mean, it shouldn't be that hard. Elena knows, right?" She questions. I grimace and shake my head. "_Elena _doesn't know?" She exclaims a bit louder.

"_Shhh_! No, no, Elena doesn't know, and neither does Bonnie, so I need you to _be quiet_!" I whisper back.

"Am I the only one who knows?"

"Damon obviously knows. He helped me figure out what was going on with me. The only other person who knows besides you and Damon is Stefan." I tell her. "You can't tell _anyone, _Caroline." She nods and I raise my eyebrows. "You swear?"

She hesitates for a moment and sighs, looking away for a moment before returning her attention to me. "Yes, I swear."

"Good. Thank you, Caroline."

"And there's nothing going on between you and Damon?" She asks for reassurance.

I take in a breath and nod. "Absolutely nothing." I tell her. She seems to believe it, but I'm not sure if _I _believe it.

* * *

_"__Jesus…" I tug on the black hair of the head that is settled between both of my legs, sucking roughly on the skin at my inner thigh. He gives a moan in response, breaking away to look up at me with those beautiful blue eyes._

_"__Not quite, but I'm glad to hear I'm having such a positive effect." He retorts with a smirk and returns his attention my aching, needy body. His tongue slides across my skin, sending waves of what feels like electricity through my body. My grip on his hair tightens as his hand squeezes my breast appreciatively, the skin of his fingers brushing across the sensitive area of my chest. _

_I release another louder moan as he slips his tongue inside me, doing things to me that have my body writhing and my muscles clenching. _

_"__Oh my…fuck…" I breathe as my pleasure rises and he has me taking rapid breaths as I feel myself near the edge. "Oh god, Damon!"_

* * *

I wake abruptly at the sound of someone's cellphone, eyes opened wide and scanning the room after my abrupt awakening. My eyes land on the comforter of Caroline's bed and I take note of other familiar things, such as my sleeping friends and sister.

Caroline ends up pushing Elena out of the bed and we immediately make up for the extra space.

"Hello?" Elena says as she answers her phone

Caroline uses her name as a complaint and Bonnie shushes her while I just tiredly flip her off and tell her to take the phone call out of the room. She flips me off in return and crawls out of the room.

My breathing evens out as I try to chase the images of my dream out of my head, but nothing is working. Somebody had to have gotten into my head and given me that dream. I'm positive that I wouldn't dream _that _up on my own…although, stranger things have happened in my dreams and it's not like I have the cleanest of minds. I raise my hand and look down at the two pieces of jewelry on it. One of them is the pietersite ring that John gave me.

The other is my vervain bracelet. No vampire was inside my head.

_Shit._

* * *

"Now, I'm not saying a dinner party is a cliché setting for a murder, but people have had better ideas." I say when Damon opens the door to his home.

"You're just jealous that you didn't think of it first." He retorts, stepping aside to let me in. I cross over the threshold and

"Damon, you didn't tell me Elena was coming tonight."

Andie Star. So Damon ended up calling her even after he basically told her not to get her hopes up. Classy.

"Elena isn't coming tonight." He tells her, putting an arm around her waist as she walks over. "This is Veena, Elena's sister."

"Oh, right. Sorry for the mistake." She says politely.

"Easiest way to tell them apart is their hair. Elena's hair is usually straight, but Veena always curls hers." Damon tells her.

"Congratulations on having eyes, Damon." I retort sarcastically, despite being pleased with the way he has noted one of the differences between Elena and I.

The doorbell rings again and Jenna takes the liberty of opening the door to reveal John.

"Who invited him?" Jenna questions.

"_Not _me." I say immediately, my mood quickly taking a turn for the worse.

"John." Damon greets, walking towards him. "Surprise. Leave."

"When Jenna told me she was coming to a dinner party for Elijah, I decided I couldn't miss out on all the fun and games." He explains.

"You have a _real _habit of inviting yourself into other people's homes." I tell him, not pleased at all.

"There aren't gonna be any games tonight, John," Alaric says, walking over to him. "just a friendly dinner party."

"Right." John says under his breath.

Elijah arrives shortly after, making it the first time I've been able to properly meet him, or _lay eyes _on him, and, well…it's not a bad experience, to say the least. Even then, I don't care how handsome he is. He actually _is _planning to have Elena die in the sacrifice, something that none of us were aware of, except for _Elena. _She knew perfectly well the deal she made and she didn't tell any of us, something I found out only a few short hours ago.

When Elijah sees me, he immediately knows I'm not Elena, which is more than I can say for Andie.

"You must be Veena." He says, extending his hand in greeting.

"And you must be Elijah. I've heard a lot about you." I say, shaking his hand.

He raises my hand and presses a quick kiss to it. "It's so nice to finally meet you. Before today, you were simply a name on Elena's list of people to keep out of harm's way."

"You didn't know I was her sister?" I question, tilting my head to the side and withdrawing my hand.

"I knew she had a sister, but I wasn't aware you were her twin." He says, eyeing me in a way that suggests he knows more than he's letting on.

"Yes, but I am technically older by seven minutes." I tell him, hoping to add a touch of humor to lighten the conversation.

He gives a short laugh and nods in amusement. "You are very special, aren't you, Veena?"

I narrow my eyes and cross my arms. "I _am_ a delightful person to be around. Just ask anyone here." I look around at the people in the room and grimace, deciding to correct myself. "Except for John, don't ask John. He doesn't like me very much."

He leans down to say quietly into my ear, "From what I've heard, he does seem like the type to dislike anyone he doesn't understand, and I'm assuming a succubus would fall under that category." With that, he walks away to make small talk with Jenna, leaving me to watch him go in shock.

I quickly make my way over to Damon, who, thank god, is not with Andie at the moment, and I know he was listening in on the conversation. "How the fuck does he know about me?" I whisper in a panicked tone.

"I don't know." He replies, seeming slightly angry. "The guy is _full_ of surprises lately."

Soon, we are all seated at the dining table. Elijah has just finished talking about the Salem witch trials and how you could supposedly hear their scream from miles away as they were burned at the stake.

"So, why do you want to know the location of these alleged massacres?" Damon questions suspiciously, though he's good at covering it up.

Elijah takes a few moments to answer. "Historian's curiosity, of course."

"Of course." Damon says with a fake smile. It's becoming really easy to see through his actions lately.

"Would anyone care for some cognac?" Damon questions a few minutes later. "I have a bottle that I've been saving for _ages._"

"None for me, thanks." Alaric answers. "Nine bottles of wine is my limit."

Everyone begins standing up, so I follow suit.

"The gentlemen should take their drinks in the study." Andie suggests, though it's a bit awkward. Damon must have compelled her.

"I have to say, the food was almost as wonderful as the company." Elijah comments, gaining a pleased reaction from Andie.

"I like you." She tells him with a smile before walking into the kitchen.

"You're a gentleman." Jenna tells John, handing him some plates. "Make yourself useful."

John takes the plates, though he gives Jenna a weak smile.

"Here, here, put me to work." Alaric tells Jenna, who ends up refusing his offer to help.

"Um, I got it." She tells him, heading toward the kitchen.

"Hey, Jenna, are you okay?" Alaric asks.

"Yeah, fine, Ric." She tells him shortly before continuing her walk to the kitchen.

"Shit, she is _not _fine." I mutter to Alaric, who just nods in my direction. He already knows.

My phone begins buzzing in my pocket, so I step aside to answer it.

"Hello?"

"_Veena, the dagger that Damon's planning to use on Elijah will kill him if he uses it_. _Elena found out in one of Jonathan Gilbert's journals._"

"What? Stefan?"

"_You have to stop him before he makes his move, okay?_"

"Yeah, Stefan, okay."

"_The passage says that the dagger will bring death to _all demons_ who wield it_." He tells me, and I understand immediately. I can't use it either.

"Thanks for letting me know, Stefan." I hang up and stuff my phone back into my pocket as I rush into the living room where Damon and Elijah are.

Damon puts down the dagger, which Elijah had not yet seen.

"Sorry to interrupt, but there's something I have to discuss with Damon." I say with a laugh. Damon offers a tight lipped smile and widens his eyes at me for ruining his opportunity. "_Now_, Damon."

"You know, we forgot about dessert." Alaric says with a laugh as he enters the room.

"Elijah." Andie says, extending her hand.

"Ms. Star." He hands Damon his unfinished glass and leads Andie out of the room.

We all watch them go. Once they're out of sight, Damon hits Alaric on the arm and gives him an angry expression. I hit Damon back in the same place he hit Alaric, and he gives me a questioning look. Alaric points to the dagger, given we can't speak or else Elijah will hear us. Damon holds his hands out in confusion. Alaric walks over to the nearest coffee table and writes on the back of an envelope, which Damon snatches from him and reads.

_'__The dagger will kill you if you use it'_

Damon hands the envelope back to Alaric, displeased with that fact. He turns to me and raises his eyebrows, pointing to the dagger and then me. I shake my head and mouth _I can't _and point to Alaric.

We all make our way back into the dining room where Andie and Elijah are making conversation about the work he's doing in Mystic Falls.

"Ric, would you do me a favor and grab the notebook out of my bag?" Andie asks, and he goes to grab the notebook.

"Elijah, did John tell you that he's Veena and Elena's uncle _slash _father?" Damon asks as he takes a seat at the table, to which I follow suit.

"Yes, I'm well aware of that."

"Of course, they both hate him, so there's absolutely _no need _to keep him on the endangered species list." Damon tells him and I cover my mouth with my hand in an attempt to hide my pleased smirk.

"Ric, it's in the front pocket on the…" Andie tells him, but stops herself short. "You know what, excuse me guys." She whispers as she stands up from the table to go help Ric.

"What I would like to know, Elijah, is how you intend on killing Klaus?" John questions as soon as she leaves.

"Gentlemen, there are a few things we should probably get clear right now." Elijah says to John and Damon. "I allow you to live solely to keep an eye on Elena. I allow Elena to remain in her house living her life with her friends as she does as courtesy. If she should become a liability I'll take her away from you, you'll never see her again."

My eyes flash black as rage builds inside of me. Damon has to put a hand on my leg under the table to remind me of the mission tonight. I close my eyes and calm myself down. When I reopen them, my vision has returned to normal.

"Okay," Andie says as she enters the dining room once more. "My first question is, when you got here to Mystic Falls—"

Elijah suddenly lets out a scream, startling us all to the point of standing up out of our chairs. The dagger is poking out of his chest and Alaric stands behind him. Elijah's skin turns gray and the veins in his face rise to the surface.

"Jesus Christ, you stabbed him _through _the chair!" I exclaim, in equal parts horrified and impressed.

Alaric glances at us before pulling the dagger out of Elijah, _and the chair, _and sets it on the dining table. "Now get rid of him before Jenna comes back with dessert." He tells Damon.

"Alright." Damon mutters in response, just as intensely as Alaric's tone had been.

Somehow I got dragged into the taking-the-dead-original's-body-to-the-dungeon-in-the-basement fun. The three of us finally drop his body on the cement ground.

"You said there _wasn't _gonna be any violence." Alaric says to Damon.

"Says the guy who did all the killing." Damon replies with a smirk, turning to leave.

"Hey," Alaric grabs Damon's arm and stops him. "I took the shot because I saw an opening, not because I planned to do this with Jenna in the house. Now, you can't lie to me like that." Damon shrugs and turns to leave again, but Alaric stops him once again. "Hey! I am your friend, dammit, and you don't have any friends. So no more lying." Alaric says and leaves the basement.

Damon watches him go then turns toward me. "What's up with you tonight?"

"What do you mean?" I ask with a sigh.

"Well, for starters, you haven't commented on things nearly as much as you usually do."

"So?"

"So, what's up?" He repeats, curiosity etched all across his features.

My mind flashes back to the dream I had the previous night and I clear my throat, looking away from him and trying not to notice every single little thing about his posture and voice that's _doing_ something to me.

"Nothing's up." I finally answer.

"Are you uncomfortable around me?" He questions, eyebrows drawn together in confusion.

"No, Damon—"

"Then _what is it_, Veena?" He questions a little louder, stepping closer to me, leaving little room between us.

I sigh and try to find a way out of this. My eyes glance toward Elijah's body. "I don't feel comfortable having private conversations in front of a dead Original today." I tell him as I cross my arms.

"He can't _hear you._" He retorts immediately.

"What about his spirit?" I ask, still sticking with the plan of blaming it on the dead Original.

"_Veena_."

"Okay, fine, fine!" I exclaim, uncrossing my arms in frustration. "But seriously, let's go somewhere else." I say, glancing at Elijah's body again.

Damon rolls his eyes and leads me outside of the cellar and into the room where the freezer full of blood bags is.

"Okay, Veena. You're not around the scary—_dead—_Original vampire anymore, so talk."

"Dude, why are you so _obsessed_ with me?" I retort, switching tactics immediately so the focus is off of me.

"Why are you _blushing _like that?" He asks, proving to be difficult to distract.

"I'm not even blushing! Go away!" I exclaim dramatically.

Alaric comes back down the steps, an eyebrow raised in curiosity. "What's going on down here, is everybody alright?"

"Damon cried during Bambi!" I tell Alaric as a distraction to get the hell out of this situation.

"Dude, really?" Alaric asks and Damon shoots a glare at me.

"No, she's lying!"

They immediately start discussing, which is mostly Alaric claiming he doesn't believe Damon. I start to walk up the steps, thinking now is the perfect time to make my escape.

I make it halfway up before I find Damon in front of me. "We're not done here. Get your ass back down there."

* * *

**Thanks for reading! Please let me know what you think of the story so far. More issues and unique content will be brought into the story soon, but we _are _only on chapter 3, so I thought I'd focus a little bit more on character personality for the moment.**

**Let me know what you want to see in future chapters! I love to hear what you guys are thinking. **

**Thanks again!**


	4. Chapter 4

"Don't you have more important things to do right now?" I ask Damon, who was still trying to get me to fess up about what was going on. Like hell, that was going to happen. "Like, I don't know, make out with your news reporter?"

He raises his eyebrows at me. "Are you jealous of Andie?"

I scoffed. "Please. I'd rather be your friend than some girl you don't really care about and only keep around for the occasional lay."

Alaric clears his throat and steps forward. "I'm just gonna, you know…"

Damon and I move out of the way so Alaric could leave, which he did all too eagerly. We waited until he had completely left and shut the door behind him to continue our conversation.

"I know you've been compelling her." I tell him, placing my hands on my hips.

"Don't try to change the topic." He retorts, rolling his eyes at my pathetic attempt to once again take the focus off of me.

"I just had a weird dream last night, alright? It's been bothering me, that's literally _all_ there is to it." It's not the complete truth, but it _is _still the truth.

"A _dream_?" He repeats, clearly not believing me.

"Yes, Damon. A dream." I tell him, feeling my anger with the situation rising again. My hands ball into fists, because why did it have to be _Damon _in my dream? Why couldn't it have been a famous person or someone I hated and had no emotional attachment to?

Seeing my frustration, he relents. "Okay, so you had a dream. Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not even a little bit." I'd probably die of embarrassment.

Apparently, my unwillingness to talk about it is a sign for him to try and figure it out by himself, because that's exactly what he does. "If it was just a dream, why were you blushing earlier?" He asks with narrowed eyes, which soon turns into a look of realization. He opens his mouth to say something else, but gets cut off by the sound of the door opening.

"Veena, I'm going home. Be home within an hour, alright?" Jenna calls down the stairs, taking a few steps down into the basement.

Damon and I scramble to make sure she doesn't see into the other room where Elijah's body is.

"Uh, yeah, Jenna! Sure thing!" I tell her in an overly cheery voice, starting to walk up the stairs so she'll retreat. "I think I'll just leave now, so there's really no need for us to be down here."

Jenna stops at the top of the steps and tilts her head to the side. "You're acting weird." She says, looking at Damon over my shoulder. "Should I be concerned about this?" She asks, looking between the two of us.

"There's literally _nothing _going on, Jenna. Can we please just go?" I ask her, desperately wanting to get out of this conversation with Damon and keep her out of the basement. She finally relents and mutters something about how she's going to say goodbye to everyone before she walks back into the living area.

Damon's phone beeps with a text, which he glances at and curses under his breath in reaction to.

"What?" I ask.

He only glances at me before running to the cell we locked Elijah in. His urgency sparks panic in me, so I follow him. My reaction is quite the same as Damon's when I see the empty cell.

"The dagger needs to stay in his body." He tells me, moving to leave. "Stay here." He says, shoving his phone back in his pocket.

"Like hell!" I retort instantly.

"Dammit, Veena, I said _stay here._" He reiterates, locking eyes with me. "I'm going to get that dagger back into Elijah."

"He's an Original, which means he's more powerful than you and Stefan combined." I argue, and he grunts in disappointment, because he knows I'm right. "You need me."

He grimaces, seeming to weigh his options. "Fine. Come on, before I change my mind."

"Great." I move to go up the stairs, but he grabs onto my arm and stops me momentarily, causing me to look back at him in confusion. "You will not put yourself in the line of fire. None of this is worth it if you get hurt." He tells me seriously. "Agreed?" I swallow softly and nod in response. I didn't think he cared that much, but I'm starting to reconsider. "Good. Let's go."

* * *

"He's here." Stefan says from around the corner of the doorway, gripping Elena's arm softly.

The front door comes flying off the hinges in multiple pieces and he pulls her even further away from the line of fire.

"You have to go. I need to talk to him alone." Elena says.

"Elena—"

"Stefan, I'm okay. He can't come in the house."

"You know, I might not be able to enter this house, but I'm a very patient man." Elijah says from outside the door. "I will wait you out."

Elena steps forward and goes around the corner. I can't see her anymore, but I can hear her.

"They shouldn't have done what they did." She starts.

"The deal is off." He replies firmly.

"I'm renegotiating."

"You have nothing _left _to negotiate with."

"I'd like to see you lure Klaus into Mystic Falls after the doppelganger bleeds to death."

My eyes widen and I move to go object, but a hand grabs onto my arm and holds me back. Damon.

"Stefan won't let you die."

"No, he won't. He'll feed me his blood to heal me, and then I'll kill myself and become a vampire, just like Katherine did." Again, I try to object to what she's saying and Damon stops me. "So unless you want that to happen again, promise me the same as before—_promise me_ you won't harm anyone I love, even if they've harmed you."

"I'm sorry, Elena." Elijah says after a moment of silence. "I'm going to have to call your bluff."

Elena takes a deep breath and plunges the knife into her stomach.

We both yell out at the same time.

"_NO!_" Elijah screams.

I double over in pain, clutching at my now bleeding, wounded stomach. _What the hell?! _

Damon catches me before I fall to the ground. I let out a strangled noise of pain and put all of my weight onto him, not able to hold my own.

"Yes." Elijah agrees gruffly. "Yes, you can have your deal! Let me heal you. Not only will you die, but your _sister _will die as well."

"Give me your word!" She demands.

"I give you my word."

I hear Elena stumble forward and Elijah grunts before a distinct _thud _signifies his fall.

Elena collapses and Stefan rushes forward to give her his blood.

Pain continues shooting through my stomach. Stefan's blood may have healed Elena, but did not do the same thing to me.

Damon bites into his wrist and cradles my head, supporting it so I can drink down his blood. This time, it works and the wound begins to close, the pain fading with every passing second.

He helps me up, still supporting me in case I need it while the pain slowly fades away.

"You okay?" He asks, smoothing a hand over my hair. My eyes meet his and he searches mine for any sign of recovery.

For some reason, I can't muster up a reply, so I just nod and use my sleeve to wipe the blood from my mouth. He pulls me into his arms, taking me by surprise, but I quickly become comfortable with it and relax into him. He rubs my back slowly, resting his chin on the top of my head.

"Little tip." Damon says, looking over at Elijah's body. "Don't pull the dagger out."

"Veena, I'm sorry," Elena begins once she's able to stand on her own again. "I didn't know that would happen to you—"

"I'm fine." I snap, not liking how I feel fragile with everyone worried about me.

"Why the hell did that happen?" Damon questions, and I finally manage to pull myself away from him, uncomfortable with how weak I feel.

"Elijah's witch must have linked them together with magic." Stefan suggests. "I mean, it makes the most sense, doesn't it?"

"No, he swore he wouldn't harm anyone on the list that I gave him." Elena points out, shaking her head.

"He's an Original. Please tell me you wouldn't _actually _be surprised if you found out he had been lying to you all along." Damon says, raising his eyebrows at my sister.

_"__He's lying to you, Veena."_

_"__I'm getting real tired of your shit, Becky."_

_"__I'm just looking out for you." She protested._

_"__I trust him. Why can't you?" I retaliated, stopping in my tracks to turn and face her._

_"__He's a bad person with no control over his impulses. You _will _get hurt if you stay with him." She said, looking me right in the eye. She'd been telling me for a week about how he's hiding something from me. Her accusations had been based on absolutely nothing besides her _intuition_._

_"__You've been telling me that for a week now." I pointed out._

_"__And I mean it." She insisted._

I'm snapped out of my memories by a hand, waving in front of my face. "Earth to Veena. It's time to go, come on." Damon tells me.

* * *

We went back to Damon and Stefan's and Elena made a speech about how no one can keep anything from her anymore. If we're going to do this, she wants to do it her way.

Frankly, I think that's the worst idea I've ever fucking heard. Her way is reckless and dangerous and stupid. But, for the sake of keeping the drama at what will hopefully be a minimum, I kept my mouth shut. Besides, Stefan and Damon seem to think she understands now the danger she is in and that she will go along with our plans to keep Elijah dead…ish, and bring all of this to an end.

I figure I should probably get some shut-eye if I want to recover from all of the insanity lately, so I grab my things and put on my jacket, but before I can leave, I get stopped.

"What happened with you earlier?" Damon asks from the living room.

I smirk to myself before I start with, "Well, I got stabbed—"

"Really? I had no idea." He deadpans, rolling his eyes. "I mean after that. You zoned out." The way he says this indicates that he has more questions.

"I was just thinking about something." I reply, not really wanting to delve into this conversation at the moment.

"What were you thinking about?" He asks.

"It's not really something I like to talk about, let alone think about."

"Come on, Veena. I thought we were friends." He says enthusiastically, making sure to be over-dramatic. "And friends tell each other _everything._" He whispers.

I can't help but smile at his antics. "It's really not something you'll want to hear about."

"That's not true." He tells me seriously. "But, hey," He holds up his hands. "I'm not going to force you to talk about it."

"Thanks for understanding." I tell him. "I'll tell you about it some other time when we've both had way too much to drink."

He chuckles lightly and just nods understandingly. I take that as my queue, so I give him a half smile and leave the house.

* * *

I wake up the next morning to find that Elena never made it home last night. She's been staying overnight with Stefan at the boarding house a lot lately. I don't mind, but it's not exactly a secret what they're doing when she spends the night there and I don't want to think about my sister like that. It's not a pretty picture!

Once I arrive at the boarding house to fetch my sister for school, I don't bother knocking. I just walk inside.

"Already drinking? Isn't it a bit early for that?" I ask as soon as I lay eyes on Damon.

In his hand he holds a tumbler filled with what is likely bourbon. He smiles gently, but the expression soon falls.

He rushes toward me at a speed I can't quite comprehend and pins me to the wall by my neck. I immediately go into defense mode, but there's only so much I can do.

"What are you doing here? I told you to leave." He says, glaring at me with an intensity I rarely see.

"What the hell are you doing?" I gasp. My hand rises to wrap around his wrist and I dig my finger nails into his skin in an attempt to get him to release me.

"Wearing Veena's clothes? You think that's gonna work?" He asks in a whisper.

My mind makes the connection with what he's saying. "You think I'm Katherine? That psycho bitch is in the tomb!" I pause. "Isn't she?"

Damon's expression softens and he releases his grip on my neck just as Stefan rounds the corner.

"Is Katherine in the tomb, or not?" I ask the both of them.

Stefan looks between me and Damon and rushes off the next second. I hear a thud from upstairs and a panicked voice that sounds a lot like my sister. Damon follows after Stefan and I go to do the same.

"Veena? What are you doing here?"

I spin around to see her behind me with a confused look on her face. "What's going on?"

My eyes study her for a moment. This isn't my sister. "Katherine must have escaped somehow. She's somewhere in this house."

She raises her eyebrows. Elena would have lowered hers. "What do you mean she escaped?

Sudden rage boils over inside of me and with a surge of energy, I have her pressed against the wall in the same position I was just in.

"You really think you can pretend to be Elena with me?" I ask her, feeling the urge to feed until there's nothing left of her.

She gives up the act but seems to be thrown off by something. "I wouldn't have guessed any demons had come back to this town." She chokes out, trying to break free from my hold, but my rage combined with what I assume is some sort of supernatural strength keeps her in her place.

"Figures you would end up being one of _them. _Are the black eyes treating you well?"

The tone of her voice makes something inside of me snap and just before I can feed, a hand on my shoulder brings me back to the real world, the one where I don't feed on people.

I look over my shoulder to see none other than Stefan and Damon.

"Veena, stop, it's too dangerous. You won't be able to stop." Stefan says loudly.

I just now realize that I was about to feed on someone in a different way than I knew, one without attraction or kissing or any of that. I almost _stole _someone's energy from them and it probably would have been insanely painful.

Horrified, I release my grasp around her neck just as Elena comes running down the stairs. Thank God she didn't see any of that.

"It's getting really easy being you." Katherine tells us.

"Is it, now?" I challenge, moving toward her again, but Damon grabs my arm and pulls me back.

She smirks in satisfaction and looks between the four of us.

"What is she doing here?" Elena questions angrily.

"When we killed Elijah, it broke the compulsion, freed the bitch from the tomb." Damon replies, eyeing her with disgust.

"How is that possible?" Stefan asks.

"He's an Original." Katherine says, threading a feather between her fingers. "They've got all sorts of special skills."

"I don't want you here." Elena tells her and looks toward Stefan. "Get her out of here."

"You need me, Elena." She eyes the rest of us. "You all do."

"Like hell." Stefan replies.

"Nobody here _needs _you, Katherine." I snapped.

"We all want the same thing; Klaus dead. Yet, here you all are, running around like chickens with their heads cut off."

"I don't need your help." Elena says, speaking to Katherine as if she's a child. "And I don't want it!"

"And that's incredibly stupid of you." Katherine looks toward me. "You know where Klaus is? When he's coming? What he _looks _like?"

"If you know something, say it." Damon demanded. "Or get out."

Katherine just smiles to herself before replying. "Fine, then I'll just go to The Grill and have some lunch. Maybe Aunt Jenna's free for a bite?" She threatens, earning glares from all four of us.

"I don't have time for this." Elena says, leaving the room with Stefan right behind her.

Katherine watches them go. Once the door closes, she turns back toward me and Damon, who is standing slightly in front of me, almost protectively.

"So," she starts, focusing on me. "Elena has a succubus for a twin."

"Why do you care?" I ask her, narrowing my eyes at her.

"You do realize that Elena isn't the _only _one in trouble, right?" She folds her arms and raises one of her eyebrows. "Once Klaus finds out that you exist, he's going to go after you, too."

Realizing that Klaus _doesn't _know I exist is giving me some ideas. Reckless ideas, probably, but…ideas nonetheless.

"Why should we believe anything you have to say?" Damon challenges. "After all, you've only proven yourself to be a lying bitch."

"I have no reason to lie about Klaus's intentions." Katherine tells us.

I have nothing to go against what she's saying. I glance over at Damon to see what he thinks. From what I can tell, he can't find a reason for her to lie either.

I sigh, only having one thought.

Shit.

* * *

"Jenna keeps asking about Isobel. Was she murdered? Why haven't they found the body?" Alaric says, giving a few examples. "I mean, how much longer can she stay in the dark?"

"It's really not a great time to bring her into the light." I reply, shrugging. "With all of this Klaus and Elijah stuff going on… I just don't think it would be a good idea."

"It's never going to be the right time, Veena. It's not the kind of relationship I want to have with her." He leans back on his desk. "She's going to find out sooner or later. If she finds out that you, Elena and I kept all of this from her, it's going to crush her. Especially once she finds out that you're a succubus and Elena's a doppelganger who has a two thousand year old vampire coming after her."

"I mean…I guess it's getting to be more dangerous for her not to know, I just…I don't know." I sigh and look around the room. "I'm seventeen years old, Ric. I don't know how to cook, so how am I supposed to know what to do about all of this?"

He nods to himself at my words and runs a hand over his face, taking a deep breath. "How are you handling all of this?"

"You mean how am I handling being a succubus?" I ask teasingly, raising my eyebrows.

He chuckles and gives another nod. "Essentially, I guess."

I give him a shrug, because I'm not sure what the right answer is. "For now I have it under control, but that's probably only because Damon has offered to help me out with…that."

"Really?" The surprise on his face is evident. "Damon's letting you feed on him?"

"Yeah, I kinda had a freak-out moment at a sleepover a couple days ago. He's one of the only people who can physically go through that without dying."

"Elena and Jeremy have no idea what you are?" He questions.

I shake my head, casting my eyes to the floor.

"Any of your friends?"

"Only Caroline, and that's because she saw me feeding on Damon and assumed we were involved and going behind everyone's backs."

Alaric's eyes study me for a long moment before he asks his next question. "So there's nothing between you and Damon?"

I clear my throat and shake my head. "No."

The way Alaric looks at me after I say that, as if he doesn't believe me makes me feel like I'm in detention.

"Really, Ric. There's nothing going on between us." I insist, looking him in the eyes. Maybe he'll believe me if I make eye contact with him.

He smiles and gives a short laugh. "Alright, alright. Class is dismissed." He jokes, handing me my graded assignment, which was the reason I came into his classroom anyway.

"Thanks." I take it from him and leave the room, wanting desperately to get away from that awkward conversation.

On my way out, I collide with what I assume is a person and my bag falls from my shoulder. A few of my pens and pencils scatter across the tile floor

"I'm so sorry, I wasn't…looking both ways, I guess." I say lamely as I drop to my knees to gather up my things. I see the hands of the person who I ran into start to pick up some of my stuff as well.

"No worries, love."

At the sound of the voice, I freeze momentarily.

_No. _It can't be him…

I look up and feel my heart start to furiously beat in my chest.

The corners of his lips lift in what is halfway between a smirk and a smile. He stands up and holds out his hand to help me up. My hand moves slowly to grasp his and he pulls me up until I am standing.

"Long time, no see." He comments with a grin as he hands me my bag. I take it from him wordlessly, still shocked to see him.

He seems to realize I won't be saying anything. "I'll see you around, then."

He walks away from me and I turn to watch him go. He doesn't interact with anyone else in the hallway, only gives them glances, before he's gone.

"Who is _that_?" Caroline asks, coming to stand beside me.

"That was—" My voice is strained, so I clear my throat. "That would be my ex…"

She comes to stand in front of me. She gestures to the direction he left in. "You mean _that's_—"

"Yeah… That's Kol." I mutter, finding the back of his figure just as he exits through one of the doors.

* * *

**Finally, I wrote another chapter! If you're still reading, thank you! **

**This chapter is a tad shorter than the others so far, but it has a lot of information in it. Hopefully that makes up for it?**

**What did you guys think of Kol making an appearance and the brief description of his history with Veena?**


	5. Chapter 5

"Chinese food, or pizza?" Caroline asks.

"Like you have to ask." Elena says, eyeing me with a small smile.

"Always choose pizza." I confirm, tearing up a piece of bread into small little bits that I let fall onto the counter.

"I will look it up." Caroline grabs Bonnie's tablet and her face falls as she looks at it.

I glance over at it and see a picture of Caroline and Matt on the Miss Mystic Falls float.

"I'll do it." Bonnie offers quietly, taking the tablet away from her.

"Do you believe that Jonas is being sincere?" Elena asks Bonnie as she starts typing away on the tablet.

"I don't know what to believe. I think he's at a loss." She taps the screen and looks through the options. "He's not sure who to trust."

"Join the club." Elena says, grabbing the pile of bread crumbs beneath my hands. "Really, with this?" She asks me, throwing the crumbs into the garbage can.

"Well, what are we going to do about this movie situation?" Caroline asks, looking between us. "What about The Notebook?"

"No." I instantly say, tearing up more of the piece of bread in my hand.

"Veena!"

"Fight me, Elena!" I reply, throwing the piece of bread at her. She catches it and throws it in the garbage.

"Caroline, how many times have you seen that movie?" Elena asks with a laugh.

"That is so _not _the point." She argues cheerfully.

"The point is that right now, it's not a good idea for either of us to watch that movie, Care." I speak up, gathering the rest of the bread pieces that are on the counter and rolling them into a small sphere.

Jenna walks into the kitchen and sets her jacket down. All conversation we had been having ceases with her arrival. She seems pissed.

"Hey…" Elena said, trying too hard to sound happy.

"What's going on?" Jenna asks.

"Girl's night!" Elena explains, sitting down.

"Oh." Jenna acknowledges with a nod.

"How are you doing?" Elena finally asks, full of sympathy.

"You heard about my fight with Ric." Jenna assumes. She's right.

"He feels terrible." Elena replies.

"Is this some kind of disguised attempt to cheer me up?" Jenna's eyes study all of us and she raises her eyebrows in question.

"No, no, no, no, this is about us girls hanging out and…you know, we'll be here if you happen to want to talk, er—"

Caroline raises her hand. "Because, I am a…winner when it comes to successful relationships!"

"Yeah, me too, all the time." I raise my hand too and give her my best fake smile.

"You too?" She asks us.

"You have no idea." Caroline replies for the both of us, wrapping an arm around my shoulder.

"We're the best." I say, still giving her my fake smile.

Elena and Bonnie look over at me with confused looks. I haven't explained to them what happened at school earlier yet, so it makes sense for them to have questions.

"Okay, then." Jenna starts, walking over to the fridge, earning pleased looks from the rest of us. "This whole Isobel thing, he's hiding something from me." She sighs and pulls something out of the fridge.

"To play devil's advocate," Caroline starts, "maybe there is a great reason why he's not telling you." Jenna narrows her eyes. "Maybe he is just trying to protect you."

"Well that's…not his call to make, I mean, I deserve the truth, everybody does."

"But sometimes it's harder than that." Caroline interjects, desperately trying to justify her decision to not tell Matt about what she is.

"Not if it's somebody you care about, it isn't." Jenna and Caroline share a meaningful look.

"You know what we need?" Caroline says to all of us. "Dancing. There is a band _at _The Grill."

"I'm in." Bonnie smiles.

"In." Jenna agrees.

"In." Elena says.

They all look toward me, waiting for me to say the same.

I sigh shortly, but my lips pull into a smile. "Fine, I'm in."

* * *

"You never told us what happened earlier that had you in such a bad mood." Bonnie says.

"Long story short, I ran into my ex." I tell her as we walk toward the restaurant.

"Kol?" Elena questions in an alarmed tone. I told her all about him, she knows everything.

"That's the one." I confirm. "But it doesn't matter, let's just have fun, alright?"

Loud music fills my ears as I walk into the crowd of people. The Grill is packed and I can barely see over anyone's heads.

We make our way into the middle, less crowded part of the mass of people. Caroline starts dancing, and we all sort of follow suit until smiles take over our faces.

Jenna spots Ric and suddenly leaves us to go sit at the bar and have a drink. I don't blame her, honestly.

After a lot of discussion with Caroline about her situation with Matt, she makes a bold decision that even I didn't see coming.

She runs up onto stage and lowers the mic to be level with her mouth. "Hey everybody! Let's hear it for the band!" She starts clapping and everyone in the restaurant does the same, applause drowning out the sound of anything else.

"This isn't gonna end well." Jenna comments next to us and downs a shot.

"So, there's this guy…" The mic makes a loud, high pitched sound before fading back to normal. "And, uh, he told me to tell him how I feel about him." She laughs to herself. "Like it's so easy…um, you know, just because I talk a lot, doesn't mean I know what I'm…actually talking about." She takes a few nervous breaths. "Uh, like now, and I'm feeling loopy and I don't really know how to express myself…um—" The lead singer of the band tries to take the mic. "Uh, I can sing!" She says.

"Sing?" Elena asks, looking at Bonnie, Jenna and I.

"She's a good singer." I assure her, nodding my head.

"Yeah! You know what, I'm gonna sing." Caroline says decisively. The singer band tries to take the mic away from her again and she turns on him, muttering something under her breath that the crowd can't hear. He finally seems to relent and she whispers something in his ear.

The band starts playing and after a few opening chords, Caroline starts singing.

"_Close your eyes, give me your hand, darling._"

"She's good." Jenna comments.

"Yeah, I know, I just said that, didn't I?" I tease jokingly. Jenna rolls her eyes at me and pushes me away from her.

I end up crashing into someone, just like I did earlier. I go to apologize, but stop once I see the familiar face.

"We've got to stop running into each other this way, love." Kol says with a playful smirk.

"Or we could just not run into each other at all." I quip angrily, moving to leave, but he steps in front of me.

"Woah, there, not so fast!" He says, quirking an eyebrow at me. "We have a lot to discuss, lots of catching up to do."

The crowd erupts into applause. I look up toward the stage. Matt has taken Caroline into his arms and kissed her in front of the entire restaurant. It makes me mad that I can't even be happy for them right now.

"Look, I don't have the mental capacity to even _try _to understand why it is you're here." I tell him, returning my attention to him.

"Like I said, we have a lot to discuss." He maintains his grin, which only pisses me off.

"You _disappeared_!" I shout, which isn't heard to most people over the sounds of the audience. "You didn't give me an explanation, not even a goodbye!"

"Okay, let's take this somewhere more private, shall we?" He offers, gesturing toward the bathrooms.

"Fine." I growl angrily.

I start toward the bathrooms with Kol right on my tail. I practically shove the door to the girl's bathroom open, only to find Caroline and Matt making out against the wall.

"Oh, Jesus Christ!" I exclaim, shielding my eyes with my hand.

"Sorry!" Caroline apologizes before I shut the door.

"Oh, come on now, love, you've done worse yourself." Kol comments beside me with a grin.

"Not now, Kol!" I snap, turning toward the men's bathroom. Luckily, no one is in there, so I pull him into the bathroom by his shirt.

"Easy, easy." He teases, smoothing over the fabric that I had gripped in my hand. "No need to be so rough."

"What the hell are you doing here?" I ask him, my hands forming fists beside my legs.

"It's a long story, one that will take awhile to—"

I flinch as the lights in the bathroom shut off, shooting out a few sparks.

"What the hell?" I mutter under my breath, looking around. I open the bathroom door and look out into the restaurant to see that the power is out.

Caroline, Elena and Stefan rush past the door to the men's room and give me a confused look when they see me. "Veena, what are you—"

"Long story, no time to tell it. What's going on?"

"We have a problem." Elena tells me.

"Luka's dead. Jonas is here, and he's after Elena." Stefan says, explaining the situation in short terms. "We have a plan, but we need to get Elena out of here."

I feel a slight breeze behind me. I turn around and see that Kol has disappeared, once again. He has quite the knack for that.

"Let me go out there, just get Elena out, okay?"

"Veena, no!" Elena exclaims.

"She's right, Veena, it's too dangerous." Stefan says. I have a feeling he's trying to keep what I am a secret for a little bit longer.

"Look, Stefan, it's not too dangerous, and you and I both know it." I tell him, shaking my head. Elena's safety comes before keeping what I am a secret.

"Veena—"

"Get her out of here Stefan!" I say again before running into the flames of the restaurant. I quickly spot Jonas and call out for him, doing my best to sound like Elena.

"Dr. Martin!" I shout. He turns to look at me, eyes flaring angrily. "I'm sorry about Luka. Let us help you get your daughter back, please."

"Only Elijah can do that." He replies immediately, followed by the flames around the restaurant increasing significantly.

I start to protest, but Caroline lunges at Jonas, and suddenly Damon is in front of me.

"What do you think you're doing?" He questions, seemingly furious.

"Damon, listen—"

"Nope. No time for that." He picks me up and throws me over his shoulder.

"Damon!" I yell in anger as he starts moving toward the door. "Put me down!"

"Absolutely not." He dismisses as if it's the dumbest thing he's ever heard. He speeds off with me still over his shoulder and before I can make sense of any of it, we're at the front door of the boarding house.

He finally puts me down and I push my windblown hair out of my face.

"What the hell was that?!" I readjust my clothing, pulling the bottom of my shirt down over my exposed midriff. As I do, I wince at a burning sensation on my arm. I bring my arm up and look at it in confusion. A large portion of my skin is burnt. I don't even remember obtaining the burn.

Damon notices the burn as well. "You're hurt."

"I'm fine." I dismiss immediately. "It'll heal soon."

"A succubus only heals slightly faster than humans. It'll take a few weeks unless you feed."

"I said I'm fine." The idea of feeding from Damon again is highly appealing, but I can't let myself get addicted to the feeling of feeding on his energy.

"You're not fine. If you leave it, it'll get infected." He says, stepping closer to me.

"Damon…" I warn, my vision flashing red momentarily. Now that he's closer, my body is sensing the energy inside of him and pushing me to feed.

"I know you want to. Your eyes turned red, which means you want to feed." He tells me confidently, and he's not wrong. "So do it."

I shake my head, using the hand of my uninjured arm to push him further away from me. "No, Damon, I…I can't—"

"Kiss me, you idiot." He growls, grabbing my hand and pulling me to him until our lips meet. His arm immediately wraps around my waist, holding me to him closely. The tenseness in my muscles slowly releases as I relax, kissing him with a hunger that beats out any that I've ever felt before. I've felt burning desire only once before, but it's strong enough now for me to recognize it as soon as it starts making itself known. This is more than just lust, more than just satisfying a craving. I can feel it evolving into something that I soon won't be able to fight.

Damn it all to hell…

* * *

I use my key to unlock the door and I step inside, closing the door behind me.

"Oh, Veena, thank God." Elena wraps her arms around me as soon as she possibly can. "I was so worried about you, I thought you might have died back there—"

"I'm okay, I'm fine." I assure her, hugging her to me. "Did Caroline make it out okay?"

"Yeah, she's okay. She's with Matt at her house." She laughs and pulls away from me. "Jenna's been worried sick." She says as she takes me into the kitchen with her. "She's okay." Elena tells Jenna.

Jenna looks up from her ice cream and sighs in relief, getting up to hug me. I hug her back, holding onto her for dear life.

My phone buzzes in my back pocket. I take my phone out of my pocket to see a text from Damon.

**_Damon: _**_How's the burn on your arm?_

**_Me: _**_Healed. I don't want to thank you, but I probably should. So, thank you._

**_Damon: _**_Oh, Veena. You make me weep._

I roll my eyes as a smile tugs at my lips and put my phone back in my pocket.

We all finally settle down, sitting at the counter while Jenna eats her ice cream.

"If I go to bed, right now, there's a chance I'll wake up hangover-free." She comments just as someone knocks on the door.

"Who's that?" Jenna asks, glancing at the clock on her way to the door. It reads 11:49 p.m.

I follow her to the door and watch as she opens it to reveal a face I did not want to see today.

"Hi. You must be Jenna. I'm…Elena and Veena's mother."

"Isobel…" Elena breathes.

* * *

**I'm pretty sure I've hit some sort of record for the longest amount of time between chapters. You also may have noticed that this chapter was about half as long as the others. I just felt like I had to cut off this chapter with Isobel's arrival.**

**Veena has a tumblr account! You can find her under the URL veenajgil and ask her questions about what's going on! I encourage you to do so!**

**Please take some time to review. Your comments are much appreciated!**


	6. Chapter 6

Needless to say, Isobel's surprise visit was _not _taken well by any of the recipients. Jenna couldn't believe that Ric had lied to her about Isobel's death. She also wasn't too happy about the fact that Elena and I knew all along and didn't tell her. She went to spend some time on campus. I felt incredibly guilty. I still do.

"John?" I ask in confusion when I see him downstairs in the living room. He rubs at his jaw and looks over to me. "What happened to you?" I ask out of curiosity, trying to keep my composure.

"Alaric didn't like some of the things I had to say about Jenna's reaction to Isobel's appearance."

"Maybe that's because you talked out of your ass when you didn't know what was going on."

"I know more than you think." He tells me, letting his hand fall away from his jaw. "Tell me, how is feeding on the town's most dangerous vampire?"

I grip the railing of the staircase in my hand, hearing some of the wood crack beneath my skin. "How did you find out about that?"

"I have my ways." He answers simply, but he makes the mistake of glancing at the ring on my finger, the one that's supposed to help me keep tabs on Elena so I'll know when she tries to do something stupid concerning this Klaus problem.

The realization hits me a second later. "Have you been tracking me with this ring?" His silence is more than enough of an answer. It makes sense, the ring hasn't helped and I'm sure Elena has done something idiotic by now.

"The ring isn't linked to Elena's bracelet." He reveals.

"No shit." I quickly pull the ring off my finger and throw it into the fire place. "You can see yourself out now."

"Technically, I own this house—"

I turn around and glare right into his eyes, feeling a deep rage settling inside my chest. "I said, you can see yourself out."

His eyes go blank for a few seconds, like all previous thought processes had been canceled. Snapping out of his daze, he blinks, looks around the room and walks out the front door without another word.

After I calm down, my thoughts go back to Jenna. We got so caught up in keeping her out of all this supernatural business that we didn't consider how it would affect her if she found out in a bad way, which lead me to consider my decision to keep what I am from Elena and Bonnie. I've been afraid of telling them for too long. It's time to rip the bandage off.

It's just my luck that right after I finish that thought is the time they decided to laugh loudly from the kitchen, catching my attention. I take a deep breath, and trudge forward into the kitchen before I can change my mind.

"Hey, Veena." Bonnie greets immediately after I walk into the kitchen. I give her a weak smile as my nerves scatter around inside my body.

"What's wrong, Vee?" Elena asks, lowering her eyebrows as I shift my weight nervously.

"Well, I…" I struggle to finish my sentence.

God, this is almost worse than coming out as bisexual to my parents, siblings and friends was. It all turned out fine in the end, but my insane nerves got in the way of telling them in the right way.

"Holy shit, are you pregnant?" Elena asks, paling for a moment.

"What?" I ask immediately. "No!"

"Who's the father?" Bonnie questions, jumping on board with Elena's assumption.

"Guys, I'm not—"

"Is it Tyler?"

"Come on, we broke up ages ago, I wouldn't—"

"How pregnant are you?" Elena asks loudly.

"Guys!" I shout. They actually quiet down and listen to me. "I'm _not _pregnant."

Bonnie speaks up after a moment, "Are you dying?"

"Is it chlamydia?" Elena follows up.

"_Jesus—_" I cut myself off and realize that if I don't just get to the point they'll keep coming up with more outrageous theories. "I'm a succubus!"

I watch them process this information.

Bonnie seems even more shocked than when she thought I was pregnant. Her expression shifts slightly many times. Her eyes check back with me but soon look away once again. She apparently has nothing to say.

Elena looks confused. "How—" Her voice breaks slightly but she quickly regains her composure and clears her throat. "How did this happen?"

"I don't…" I sigh and take a seat at the dining room table. "I don't know."

Bonnie raises her eyebrows in surprise and what seems an awful lot like doubt. "How do you not know?"

"I was turned. I know that much, but I don't know who turned me, why they turned me, when, how, or where." I explain, feeling my own anxiety surrounding the situation rise. The fact that I don't know any of this information bothers me to no end. I can't wrap my head around any facts or memories from the incident because there just…_aren't _any.

Elena has a lot more questions that she asks me for about another hour. I explain everything to her; how I feed to survive, how being a succubus changes everyday tasks, etc.

Meanwhile, Bonnie sits at the counter looking uncomfortable. She sits her way through a lot of answers, but her comfort bubble finally bursts after about the seventh question.

"I have to get going." She says, standing up and grabbing her purse off the counter. "I have some stuff I need to do."

Elena and I exchange a look as she gathers the rest of her things. I know Bonnie's uncomfortable with what I am. I know that's the real reason why she's leaving. I'll give her time to process this a little bit more.

"Alright." Elena finally says, sending a smile her way. "Let me know when you get home, okay?"

Bonnie agrees and leaves without another word to me.

I shift in my seat, more than a little bit uncomfortable. My hand comes up to scratch at the back of my neck as I look down at the table.

"She'll come around." Elena says, grabbing one of my hands from the other side of the table, where she's sitting. "She just needs a little time."

I just nod and give her a smile. "I know."

"I had another question I was going to ask before Bonnie left." She tells me hesitantly. I gesture for her to go on. "Have you been feeding on the townspeople?"

"Well, technically, yes." Elena's eyes widen in shock and anger, so I hurry to clarify. "Just one of them, really, and he's more than equipped to handle it."

"Who is?" She narrows her eyes.

I clear my throat and adjust my weight in the chair a few more times. "Damon." I mutter.

"What was that?"

I sigh and close my eyes. "I've been feeding on Damon."

Elena raises her eyebrows in shock. "Oh… That's, uh—"

"Weird?" I offer, hoping to lighten the mood.

"A little bit, yeah." She confirms with a laugh, shaking her head. Her expression falls. "Wait, does that mean you two have…"

"Oh, no. No, no, no." I assure her, feeling a blush rise to my cheeks. She genuinely seems relieved. "Most succubi have sex with the person they feed on, but, no, we haven't done anything other than kiss."

Elena nods as she takes this in. A few moments pass before her next question. "Do you have feelings for him?"

Shit… I was hoping she wouldn't ask that question.

I try to form an answer that wouldn't exactly be lying…but I can't seem to think of one.

"You do, don't you?" She prods, leaning closer to me as much as she can with the table in the way. Her eyes are curious and concerned.

A few moments pass before I take a deep breath and visibly deflate. "We have bigger problems than who has feelings for who right now, so I'm choosing to ignore it."

"Remember what happened when you tried to ignore your feelings for Tyler?"

"Hey, that was over a year ago, and _he _kissed _me_!"

A few seconds pass before we both burst into laughter, thinking back to the days when we didn't have anything going on outside of normal teenage drama.

"You know," I start, folding my arms on the table and staring at a pattern in the surface of it. "Being a succubus, I feel everything more intensely. I just…can't handle it all _and _deal with my—" I clear my throat and try a different approach. "I know you think he's a terrible person, so I don't expect you to pretend you approve—"

"Hey, no," she interrupts, placing a hand over mine. "As much as we might try, we can't control who we care about."

I finally look up from the table and meet Elena's eyes with mine. Heaviness settles in my chest as I think about all of this Klaus stuff. The coward hasn't even shown his face.

He wants to _kill _Elena. Well he's got another thing coming if he thinks any of us will let him get away with that.

"Elena…please don't do anything stupid. At least, until we take care of this Klaus problem."

"What do you mean we? You're not getting involved in this, Veena."

"I'm stronger than you think I am. I have abilities that could be incredibly useful."

"What abilities?" She asks, furrowing her eyebrows.

Before I can answer, someone knocks on the front door.

"I swear to God, if that's Isobel again, I'll kill her." I mutter as soon as the knocking stops.

Elena goes to open the door, revealing Stefan and Damon. She steps aside to let them in. I noticed she left out the part about how we were talking about Damon as well.

Stefan wraps his arms around Elena and kisses her forehead. They start muttering to each other about Klaus. Deciding to let them talk to each other in private (totally _not_ trying to avoid Damon,) I stand from my chair and clear some things off the table.

"Elena said you told her about being a succubus."

Speak of the devil.

I don't look back at him, but instead focus on washing the dishes that Elena and I used. "She told you that?"

"I might have snooped. It's her fault, she knows I can hear everything she says." He pauses. "What made you decide to tell her?"

"I didn't want to keep it a secret anymore." I use the sponge to work on a particularly tough spot on a plate.

"What about little Gilbert?"

"I haven't told Jeremy yet, but I will soon."

"And Jenna?"

I sigh and wash my hands as I debate (again) with myself over telling Jenna. "I think I'll tell her when she inevitably finds out about vampires. Until then, I don't think it'd be a good idea. Isobel showed up on our doorstep. Jenna saw her and…it didn't go well."

"So I heard."

I finish washing the plates off and finally turn around to face him. "Damon," I stop myself to check if Elena and Stefan are still in the front room. When I see that they aren't and therefore there won't be any danger of them overhearing any of this, I return to the kitchen. "I really appreciate your willingness to help me feed, but I don't want to end up hurting you." The fear of hurting him is only one of the worries I have. If I keep feeding on him, I'll get attached and obsessed and crazy and addicted to him, and the idea of that…isn't something I am too fond of.

"You won't hurt me, and you need to _feed_, Veena." He looks at me with an intensity I've never seen before. "You don't want to feed on the town, as annoying and idiotic as they all are." He's right. I don't want to feed on anyone that lives in Mystic Falls, or any human in general. "You don't have another option."

I know I'm fighting a losing battle here. It only makes sense to feed on him if I don't want to feed on anyone that can't handle the physical toll that it would take on them. "Well what about you? You feed on the townspeople all the time."

"Your point is?"

"I don't feed on the townspeople because I don't want to hurt them. The fact that _you're_ feeding on them conflicts with that."

"Don't even think about suggesting what I know you're about to suggest." He warns, stepping closer to me to seem intimidating.

I don't step back. I don't shrink down. In fact, I step even closer to show him that the intimidation isn't working. "How is it fair, Damon? I feed on you when I need to, you should be able to do the same thing with me." His expression sets into something between angry and frustrated. "I understand that you want to help me, even if you don't want to say it." His expression softens slightly and he waits for me to go on. "Can't you understand that I want to help you, too?"

His eyes are locked onto mine for a few long seconds before he finally glances above my head. A few more seconds pass by before he responds. "We'll try your way." He looks at me again. "But if _anything _goes wrong—"

"If something happens to either of us, we'll stop and figure out a different way for both of us to feed." It's the only logical solution. We could really help each other out, but if I ended up hurting him, or he ended up hurting me, it wouldn't make sense to do this. "Deal?"

"Fine. Deal." He reluctantly agrees. "We should keep this to ourselves."

"I couldn't agree more."

* * *

"You're incredibly brave, coming here." Elijah tells me, eyeing me as I walk toward him.

"I didn't arrange a meeting with you to be cowardly." I point out, placing my hands in my pockets.

"Why did you arrange a meeting with me? You were exceedingly vague on the phone…"

"I want to sub in for Elena during the sacrifice."

He narrows his eyes. "Why would you want to do that?"

"Elena's my sister, and she's human. She's ready to just…give up." The reality of the choice she would make if her life was on the line is a heavy weight on all of us, but especially me. "I can't let her die. Klaus doesn't know I exist and we're identical, so I could easily pass for Elena. Since I'm a succubus, I would be revived after having my blood drained."

Elijah considers all of this. "There's just one flaw in your plan. Klaus will know that you're not human the second he tastes your blood, and therefore, he will know you're not Elena."

"Bonnie can do a spell to mask the uniqueness of my blood. When Klaus drinks it, he won't be able to tell any difference."

"Even then, he'll notice that the curse won't be lifted from him, he'll still only be a vampire."

"No, I'm still a doppelganger, just like Elena." I argue, refusing to believe the possibility that this won't work. "The spell should work just fine, right?"

"That can't be guaranteed. You're not completely a doppelganger anymore, your blood might not break the curse."

"We need to take our chances. Even if my blood doesn't break the curse, Klaus should have enough of a distraction for you to kill him."

"This plan of yours just might work." He admits, seeming impressed.

"There's still one obstacle. Elena can't know what I'm planning to do. Nobody can, except for us and Bonnie. They'll all try to stop us from doing this." I explain, looking off into the distance while I take a few seconds to imagine the disappointment they would all have in me if they knew what I was planning.

"How do we know Bonnie will keep up her end of the deal and keep quiet about all of this?" Elijah asks. "I imagine she cares about you just as much as she cares about Elena."

"Maybe." I dismiss simply. Given the way she reacted to me earlier, I'm not so sure.

Elijah looks at me inquisitively. It almost seems as if he wants to ask me why I might think the way I do about Bonnie, but he doesn't say anything.

"Very well." He says, breaking the silence. "I shall not reveal your intentions, so long as you don't try to double cross me."

* * *

"Bonnie, I need to talk to you. It's important. Call me back…please." I end the call and sigh to myself as I see how many times I've tried to call her. Four calls to her phone just in the last day I've been trying to get a hold of her for a few days now to talk about a spell to mask the taste of my blood, but it's obvious that she's been avoiding me.

"Still no word from Bon Bon?" Damon questions from his couch. He pinches the edge of a page between his fingers and leisurely flips to the next. His eyes lift up to me as I slump onto the couch next to him with a groan. "What do you need to talk to her about, anyway?"

Subtle nerves course through my veins. "Just…stuff."

He looks back to his book and I force myself to tear my eyes away from him. "You can talk to me about _just stuff, _you know." He closes the book and tosses it onto one of the chairs.

"I know, but it's _girl_ stuff." I lie, to which he hums in acknowledgement, cracking a smirk.

Veins rise under his eyes. He's good at getting rid of them, and fast, but I notice them before they're gone.

"How long has it been since you fed?"

"A few days."

"Damon!"

"I'm _fine, _Veena. I could last a lot longer if I had to."

"That wasn't our agreement." I readjust my weight to face him on the couch. "If you're going to help me feed, then I'm—"

"I know what the agreement was." He tells me, locking onto my eyes with his.

"Then what's the problem?" I ask softly, pulling the fabric of my shirt down my shoulder so that he'll have easy access to my neck. "I want to help you." I tell him honestly.

**Damon's POV**

There was truly no point in fighting her over this, he realized. She was so stubborn, he'd never have his way.

He'd be lying if he said he hadn't thought about this before, too many times to count. Her quick heartbeat, the sound of her breathing, and the warmth radiating off of her is enough to drive him mad.

As if he wasn't already insane.

He imagines letting his finger stroke over the pulse in her neck. He knows the beat would be quick. He knows the feeling of life flowing through her would take away his last ounce of self-control.

"This is a stupid, stupid idea." He wraps an arm around her waist and pulls her closer to him anyway.

"We're stupid people." She breathes, goosebumps rising all across her skin as his breath fans over it.

The hunger comes back full force when he breathes in through his nose. The scent of her is practically intoxicating. Before he can control himself, his fangs elongate and they're buried in the pulsing vein in her neck.

Her blood hits his taste buds and _holy fucking shit. _

Her blood makes regular human blood seem weak tasting.

She gasps and grips onto the back of his shoulders. He's sure that there will be nail marks on his back when he finally separates himself from her. It takes a few more glorious moments of savoring her blood, her presence, her willingness, her want to help him, before he can gather the will to pull away.

He's glad he has exercised such control over himself for years now, or else he's not sure if he would have been able to stop.

**Veena's POV**

_Oh. My. God._

Whenever I imagined being bitten by a vampire, I never imagined it would feel like _that. _Is there something wrong with me? It's not supposed to feel like that, right? It's _not _supposed to feel…

I slowly drag my hand up to my neck to cover the wound. I intended to put pressure on it to avoid extra bleeding, but I don't seem to have the strength for that right now.

Damon stands up from the couch rather abruptly, giving me a chance to regain myself. When he comes back a few seconds later, he has a glass of water in his hands. "Figured you might need this."

I take the glass and realize that my strength has come back very quickly. My other hand comes up to my neck. The wounds are gone, as if they never existed. Clearing my throat, I take a sip from the glass. I don't look at him. I know I'm blushing at the memory of what just happened and how it felt.

The couch cushions move slightly with his weight as he sits down next to me. "Did it hurt?"

"What kind of question is that?" I ask, avoiding having to answer honestly.

"If I hurt you, that's it; deal's off. Remember?"

"It didn't hurt." I mumble softly under my breath.

"Oh, come on, Veena. You're telling me that having _fangs _in your skin didn't hurt?" He sounds incredibly doubtful.

I take one more, long sip from the glass and stand up from the couch, leaving the glass on the table as I walk to the front door. "I have to go."

"Veena, wait—"

I slip out the front door and quickly close it behind me, fleeing the scene as soon as I can.

* * *

**Thanks for reading! If you guys have any questions, feel free to leave them in the comments and I'll do my best to answer them without revealing too much of the plot. **


	7. Chapter 7

**This chapter is a little bit of a filler, but there are BIG developments here that will have a dramatic affect on Veena in future parts of this story.**

**Veena has a tumblr account. Go ahead and visit her tumblr (veenajgil) and ask her any questions you may have! She has a mind of her own and she would love to answer your questions. She even reblogs stuff she finds funny and stuff she likes, so go ahead and follow her, too, if you want to see _high quality content _on your dashboard. **

**If you don't want to read some nsfw stuff, when you see the ****(¬‿¬), skip ahead until the next ****(¬‿¬).**

* * *

**Damon's POV**

The intoxicating taste of Veena's blood still lingers in Damon's mouth. She left the house in a rush just a few minutes ago, but he can still taste her, and _God, _she tastes good. He's been cursing himself in his head for being such a fucking idiot. He never should have let himself taste her blood. He was surely going to become obsessed with her now.

_You already are obsessed with her_, a voice in the back of his head whispers.

He snarls to himself, swatting a nearby lamp off of the nightstand it previously rested on. It flies against the wall and the light bulb shatters loudly. The sound is satisfying, but it isn't enough to _keep_ him satisfied. Feeling the need to be destructive only grow stronger, he grasps a vase in his hand, swings his arm back with the intent to throw it, but stops short.

Had Veena been _moaning_?

The thought drives him crazy with desire and has him questioning whether or not he had imagined her sounds.

No sane human person would _enjoy _being fed on…but Veena _isn't _human. She's a succubus. She's a crazy, sex driven, certainly _not human_ succubus.

Suddenly, he is rushing to the Gilbert home, intent on getting answers to the many questions that are racing through his mind.

Damon comes to a stop in the front yard, glances up to Veena's window, which fills with light a second later. He listens in on the sounds inside of the house. Gunshots and explosions signal that Jeremy is in his room, playing whatever video game is in these days. Gentle murmuring and laughter makes him aware of Jenna and Elena's presence inside the house. Another few seconds of listening reveals the sound of Veena's heart, fluttering faster than usual.

A few lithe movements propel Damon inside Veena's bedroom through the window. As if sensing his presence, she whirls around suddenly, letting out a gasp of surprise.

"What the hell do you think you're doing here?" Veena asks furiously, pinning him with the stare that he knows frightens most people.

"Sorry," Damon comments dryly, feeling his own frustration with his confusion rise. "I forgot to call ahead and make a reservation."

"You can't be in here." She tells him bitterly.

What does _she_ have to be upset over?

"You enjoyed it." He states, stalking closer to her. She holds her ground, but he sees a faint blush rise on her cheeks. "You enjoyed having my fangs in your skin." She takes in a deep breath of air and he can feel her preparing to be stubborn. "It felt _good. _Admit it." He demands, eyes flaring with an intimidating intensity.

"What the fuck do you know, Damon?" She challenges, stepping closer to him. The anger radiating off of her is obvious now, with her less than four inches away from him. "You think because you're old as shit, you know everything?"

For a moment, he considers the possibility that his hunch was wrong, but then he remembers the sounds she made as he fed on her. He sees it in her eyes, the defense mode she's gone into, and he knows he isn't wrong about this.

With a renewed sense of assurance, he backs Veena into the wall. Her breath catches as he leans in close to the side of her neck, exhaling against her skin. "You liked it." He says into her ear, tucking her hair out of the way so she won't miss a single word. "I bet if I did it again, I could have you squirming and writhing in seconds with how much you would _like _it." He lets the tip of his fingers stroke down the column of her throat. Her pulse begins to thrum quicker beneath his touch and he dips his head back down to her neck. Shaky breaths leave her body when his lips make contact with her sensitive skin, leaving firm kisses on the surface. Experimentally, he scrapes his blunt human teeth down the side of her neck. As expected, she moans.

_God, _he wants her so bad.

When Damon lifts his head to look at her, the temptation is almost too much to handle. Her eyes are closed and her chest rises and falls with her breaths. Really, he doesn't know how he continues to resist her every damn day.

Unexpectedly, he finds himself stumbling backward, only to realize she pushed him away from her.

Veena's eyes have been completely drained of all color and light. Blackness consumes every surface of her eyes. She looks caught off guard, angered by her own body's reactions to Damon. Eventually, the black slowly fades from her eyes, bringing back the brown irises he's come to know. "Don't do that." She demands, anger being quickly replaced by surprise and uneasiness.

"Why not?" He inquires, noticing the way she glances everywhere around the room rapidly, as if trying to find an escape route. He steps closer to her again, intent on getting her to admit she _enjoyed _being bitten. He had to know that he wasn't the only one between them who actually _liked _being fed on by the other.

As Damon gets closer to her, strange feelings settle into his chest, feelings that are _not his own._ He feels the shock that is so clearly being shown on Veena's face, along with something that reminds him of the scattered feeling of butterflies in his stomach. It reminds him of the icy rush that he felt when he was around Katherine when he was still human. He definitely feels anxious and unsettled, but where were these feelings coming from?

His feet abruptly stop moving as these feelings all hit him like a freight train, sudden and fast, leaving him a couple of feet away from Veena, who looks just as confused as he feels. She clutches at her chest, just over where her heart rests, confusion turning into panic. "What the fuck?!" She entreats, inhaling and exhaling too fast for Damon's comfort. She may be a supernatural being, but he still worries that she'll hyperventilate if she continues on like this. Her eyes flick up to his and she takes in a sharp, quick breath. Knowing what she's planning on doing next, he flits over to her, clamping his hand down over her mouth.

"If you scream, everyone in this house will hear you." He feels a spike of wariness in his chest that he knows belongs to her. If he had a family as nosy as hers, he'd be wary, too. "Do you want that?" He already knows her answer, but he asks anyway. She shakes her head softly and he removes his hand from her mouth.

"How the hell is this happening?" Her anxiety grows even stronger and Damon remains calm on the outside, even though he's freaking the hell out on the inside.

"You need to breathe slower." He warns, raising his eyebrows in a way that communicates he's serious. "You'll hyperventilate if you don't." Somehow, through her panic, she's able to take a few deep breaths. He knows she realizes he's right about this. Of course he is. He's always right. He gives her another minute before speaking again. "I'm going to try something." He tells her, slowly moving toward her again. When she doesn't fight him, he takes the last few steps until he's a mere few inches away from her. "Do you trust me?" A warmth spreads through his chest as she nods and he knows she's being honest. They had to trust each other, what with their little _deal, _and he'd like to pretend he didn't _feel _her sincerity.

Damon wonders how _intense _they are feeling each other's emotions. He's not sure if the high level of distress is coming from him or Veena at this point.

As he reaches his hand out to grasp her arm, he hears her heartbeat speed up, feels it in the pulse of her wrist, but it's not the only thing he notices. The contact makes her nervous, excited. He'd always known her heart tends to beat fast when their skin touches each other's, but he'd never known how it influenced her emotions. Is this how she felt every time he touched her?

His fingers trail up her arm, making the thin hairs on her skin stand at attention. He keeps moving his hand up and across her collarbone, making her heart flutter even faster. In his chest he feels her nervousness rising and…was that vulnerability? She felt vulnerable—and insecure? Damon understood insecurity. Hell, he'd felt insecurity plenty of times in his long life time, but he never would have thought Veena had issues with it.

Leisurely, he moves his hand down to rest over her fast-beating heart, causing her to inhale sharply. She feels everything more intensely with that one motion that it almost throws Damon off.

He looks at her quizzically, not understanding why she feels this way when he does these things. He hasn't done anything to deserve her adoration, nor her trust, or even her cooperation, but he can't deny it when he's literally feeling everything she is.

The fact that she can also feel everything he's feeling makes him start to formulate a way to pass all of this off as simple lust, but she must know better already, because she throws her arms around his neck and kisses him hungrily.

Shock holds him still for a few seconds, because this kiss is different than the others they have shared. This time, their kiss means something more than fulfilling Veena's need to feed. In fact, she doesn't feed at all. She just kisses him.

Damon can feel nervousness begin to rise in her just before she pulls away from him sharply, taking a few steps back.

"I'm sorry," she blurts out, "oh, God—I shouldn't have—"

He takes her in his arms and presses his mouth back to hers. Relief floods through the both of them when their lips meet again. She wants this just as much as he does. For so long Damon loved Katherine, selfish Katherine, who only took and never gave, never wanted him like he wanted her.

Now, Damon knows Veena wants him like he wants her. He's never been so sure of someone else's feelings about him.

**Veena's POV**

It feels so good to kiss Damon without any excuses. I don't need to feed, I just kiss him. God, it's so good to just _kiss _him. I've never let myself be so careless before, but there's no looming threat of consequences hanging over my head, because none of it _matters_ right now. The only thing that matters is Damon, here with me, kissing me, _feeling _everything I thought _I_ only felt between the two of us.

The sensation of Damon's hands grazing over my skin could lead me to believe I was being set on fire if I didn't know better. As he moves his hands down my arms and to my waist, he brushes his mouth over my neck, right over my pulse. Every part of me becomes more sensitive as he devours me, lips on my neck, hands pulling my shirt above my head. He breaks away from me to toss the material to the ground. His hands lift me up, pulling my legs around his waist and I take the initiative to wrap my arms around his neck, pressing a chaste kiss to his lips before my back hits the soft blanket on my bed.

I watch as he quickly pulls his shirt off of his torso. He stands there for a few seconds and I grow confused. Has he changed his mind? Does he not want this anymore? The questions are short-lived when I remember we can feel each other's emotions, and I'm reassured he wants this. His eyes meet mine and I raise an eyebrow. Just as I'm about to ask why he's just standing there, he speaks.

"You look so hot like this." He breathes out, his voice husky and deep. "I had to memorize every detail; who knows when I'll get to see you like this again after tonight?"

Confidence surges through me from his words. "And you haven't even taken my bra off yet." I tease, raising my eyebrows up and down playfully.

* * *

(¬‿¬)

* * *

My eyes catch a glimpse of the smirk that spreads across his lips before he's hovering over me, his knees placed on either side of my hips. "Well, let's remedy that situation." His hands dart under my back and I feel him undo the clasp to my bra, which is soon off of my body and on the floor. Damon wraps his mouth around one of my nipples while he works on unbuttoning my jeans. Once they are gone, I move to unbutton his pants, but he catches my arm and tosses it back down onto the bed. "All in good time," he says, "but right now, I'm going to make you lose your mind."

Heat swells in my body, making my heart pump faster. I consider being stubborn in my efforts to get those damn pants off of his body, but anticipation and arousal are really loud in my mind and I find I'm really okay with seeing what he's going to do.

My underwear gets pulled off of my body, but Damon takes his sweet ass time doing it. Soon enough, though, I'm completely naked as I lay on my bed, completely open to his actions. "You have no idea how long I've wanted you like this." He murmurs, leaning down to press kisses to my stomach, moving down toward my core with each one. Just when I think his lips will meet my center, he moves his lips to my inner thigh, and while it feels heavenly, I'm getting impatient. Another minute passes and I begin to squirm slightly, having half the mind to grab him by his hair and direct him to where I need him.

Before I can carry out the motions, Damon clamps his mouth over my clit and sucks roughly, causing me to slap a hand over my mouth to cover the loud moan that is escaping me. He lifts his head to look at me, giving me a stern look. "Unless you want Jenna, or even worse, _Elena_ to find you like this—"

"I'll be quiet." I promise, just wanting him to continue. Thankfully, he does just that. He trails his tongue down to my entrance and thrusts it inside of me. I try to stay absolutely silent, but tiny gasps and pleasurable sighs leave me. When Damon returns his tongue to my clit and hums as he massages it, I nearly lose my composure.

While focusing his tongue's attention to my clit, I feel him push a single finger inside me. He begins to wiggle it around, curling and thrusting. My hands grasp the blanket beneath my body, holding on as Damon's finger comes into contact with the most sensitive spot inside of me. My hand shoots out and grabs one of my pillows, pulling it over my face to muffle my moans. He continues to massage my clit with his tongue and rub his finger inside me, building in speed as he goes. I'm building to that sweet release and Damon's pushing me closer with every movement. Just when I think he can't go any faster, he does. After a few more seconds of this nearly unbearable pleasure, I fall over the edge.

I take a few moments to regain myself from what was one of the best experiences I've ever had, and we're not even done yet. "Oh, my god…" I exhale, letting my eyes fall shut for just a little while.

"Mmm, I _know_." Damon replies, kissing his way back up my body. Before he can get too far, my hands rush down to unbutton his pants. "Someone's eager." He comments with a satisfied smirk, relenting to my wishes. He sits up and lets me pull the pants down his legs. Before I can get to his underwear, I find myself flat on the bed again and Damon's underwear not on his body anymore.

_Oh._

He crawls back over me, lowering himself to my entrance. He gives me a wary glance, raising an eyebrow, to which I quickly nod. How could he not know how bad I want him right now?

Having the reassurance he needed, he pushes forward and I gasp at how wonderful it feels. If his groan is anything to go by, he agrees with how I'm feeling at this moment. His name falls from my lips and his eyes are locked with mine.

I search for how he's feeling inside of me, but it seems whatever affect was on the both of us has vanished. It leaves me feeling confused again. I don't get to think about this much, however, because Damon starts moving, sending fire through my veins once again.

My hands wrap around his biceps, feeling the muscles underneath his skin flex with each new movement he makes. He keeps moving at the same pace for far too long. I roll my hips up to signal I want him to pick up his speed. He chuckles and growls lowly in the back of his throat as he speeds up.

Noticing that the noises I'm making are becoming a little too loud for comfort, I try to keep the sounds quieter and minimal, which yields little success, but I'll take what I can get.

"I wish you didn't have to stay quiet. I would make you _scream _my name if I had the chance." Damon mutters into my ear, making me want to shiver in sheer delight.

"I'm having a hard time not screaming as it is." I breathe deeply, reaching behind me to grasp onto my comforter. My head lolls to the side, and as soon as the space opens up, Damon's lips latch onto my neck yet again.

"This is nothing compared to what I _could _be making you feel right now." He says against my skin. "Can't wait to take you to the boarding house and send Stefan away so you can make all the noise you want."

All this talk of _noise _is making me far more sensitive than my pride feels I should be. Damon's thrusting is proving to be more than satisfying. It takes him only a few more thrusts to push me over the edge again. He follows after a few more seconds, groaning into my skin.

* * *

(¬‿¬)

* * *

Suddenly, despite feeling so very alive, my eyelids grow heavy. I'm absolutely spent.

"You should sleep." Damon comments, noticing my exhaustion. He sits up and begins putting his clothes back on. "Don't want to be late for school, where you'll learn many useful and important things to help you survive in this day and age."

"Don't need to sleep." I pull my shirt back onto my body, followed by my underwear and pajama shorts.

He scoffs. "Please. You can barely sit up straight." He stands up from my bed, fully clothed, and pulls the blankets down from the corner of the bed. "Come on, in you go."

No longer having the energy to fight him, I crawl under the covers and rest my head on my pillow. He brings the blankets back up, letting them fall over my body. Behind my closed eyelids I notice the lights go off. My mind begins to fade into unconsciousness, making my thoughts slowly diminish, as well as my awareness. Before I completely surrender to sleep, I feel fingertips brush my hair behind my ear, lingering for a few seconds.

"Goodnight, Veena."

* * *

**Thank you so much for reading and putting up with my slow updates. I really appreciate those of you who continue to read and review. I also appreciate everyone who ever took a look at this story. You guys are great.**

**So, Veena and Damon did the nasty. Some of you might be thinking it's about time, and others of you might be thinking it's way too soon for them. I realize this might seem very rushed, but they needed to do the do at this specific point in the story for the plot to work the way I want it to. **

**If you guys have any questions, leave them in the comments below, or go ahead and ask Veena directly on tumblr (veenajgil) if you want her to answer your questions herself!**

**Thank you again for reading! Please, leave a review and tell me what you think. :)**


	8. Chapter 8

**Three cheers for a next day update! My muse was really flowing and I'm quite happy with it.**

**Enjoy reading! :)**

* * *

"Veena! You're still in bed?! I've been waiting outside for ten minutes! We're going to be late for school!"

It takes a couple more seconds for my groggy brain to process who's yelling at me, and why she's yelling at me, but when I do, my head flies off of my pillow as I spring up from bed. "Shit! Sorry, Caroline." I apologize quickly as I practically fly around the room, stripping right in front of Caroline to put on new clothes.

"What do you need in order to be out the door in the next two minutes?" She asks loudly, hands flailing exaggeratedly and blonde hair bouncing with her movements.

"I need something to eat that I can take in the car." Once I tell her that, she disappears from the room and I hear her shuffling around my kitchen to find something.

"And on the day of the Decade Dance!" She exclaims from downstairs, offended by my sleeping through the alarm I had set.

_Fuck! _I forgot that was today!

After I pull my hair into a messy bun and clean my face of smudged makeup, I grab my shoulder bag that holds my school supplies in it and rush down the stairs. Caroline is waiting for me at the bottom, a peach in her hand, washed and ready to eat. She shoves it into my hands and storms out the front door, leaving me to follow behind her.

"What the _hell_, Veena?!" Caroline asks, speeding at least ten miles over the speed limit in an attempt to get to school in time, with only a minute to spare until the late bell will ring.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I didn't hear my alarm." I say lamely, knowing it must sound like a half-assed excuse for wanting to sleep a little bit longer, but it's true! My teeth sink into the peach in my hand, juice falling over the sides and into my hand.

"Hey! Guess what? Did you know your bedroom smells like sex?"

I choke on the bit of peach in my mouth, covering my lips with my hand as memories of Damon and I from last night flood my brain.

Oh, god.

Oh, god, oh, god, oh, god.

What the hell was I thinking?! I shouldn't have slept with him, not so soon to offering myself for the sacrifice in place of Elena. Everyone was going to hate me for that! Especially Damon.

I'm reminded by my train of thought that I'm going to have to figure out a way to stop Elena from going to the sacrifice.

"So, how was Damon?" Caroline asks bitterly.

Luckily, I don't have to answer, because she slams on the brakes and parks, leaving us to scramble out of the car and into the school at human speed, given some of the students around us are late as well. The late bell rings and Caroline curses under her breath.

"We _will _talk about this later." She warns me as we rush into class, just as I hear Elena's voice.

"Watergate was the seventies, Ric." I roll my eyes at her slip as I seat myself next to my sister. "I—I mean, Mr. Saltzman."

I set my bag down on the floor next to my desk and look up to find Ric staring at me with a look between confused and angry. Shifting uncomfortably, I glance around the room a few times before my eyes return to him. He seems to snap out of his little daze and his eyes find their way back to Elena.

"Right. It all kind of mushes together up here, the sixties, seventies." Ric comments in a tone that suggests he finds it funny. "Thank you…Ms. Gilbert."

* * *

In my math class, I sit with my hand under my cheekbone in an attempt to stay awake through another boring lesson.

"As I would hope most of you know, the quadratic equation assists us in—" The bell rings, cutting the teacher off and pulling me out of my half asleep state. "Remember, students, your Chapter 7 review assignment is due tomorrow, and I expect _all_ of you to turn it in."

I give myself a few seconds to wake up a little bit more before grabbing my stuff and leaving the classroom. I'm glad it's lunch time. The peach didn't fill me up very much this morning and it wasn't the sustenance I _actually _needed. Ever since last night, with Damon, I've noticed that I crave to feed a lot more than I did before. It's probably a succubus thing, but it doesn't matter when it leaves me feeling on edge and horny.

I sit down at a table in the lunch room with Elena and Bonnie, rendering Bonnie silent. My eyes stare her down. "I tried calling you, like a thousand times." I tell her, raising my eyebrows in 'innocent' wonder.

"I've been busy." She tells me, a cold glare in her eyes.

I have to stop myself from scoffing. Sure, she's been busy. Haven't we all? "Will you just…text me later?" I ask, trying to tone down my obvious annoyance and let some honesty seep into my voice. "I really need to talk to you."

Bonnie takes in a breath before nodding simply, standing up from the table and leaving us.

"What was that about?" Elena asks, watching Bonnie walk away.

"I've been trying to get a hold of her, but she's not answering any of my calls or returning any of my messages." I explained.

Elena seems confused, but she doesn't dwell on it. "So, Stefan and Damon sort of gave me their house."

My eyebrows pull together in confusion. "Really?"

"Yeah, they think it will keep me safe from Klaus." This time, I let myself scoff. "Well, saf_er_." She clarifies. "The deed is in my name now, which means no vampire gets in the house that I don't invite in. I'm going to be sleeping there and I think you and Jer should come spend the nights, too."

I tense slightly, thinking about all of the sexual tension between Damon and me. It's probably not a good idea to spend multiple nights in the same house with Stefan, Elena _and _Jeremy. "I don't think that would be a good idea."

"Why not?"

"What if Klaus stops by our house in the middle of the night to see if you're there and you're not? He goes on a rampage and kills everyone we know. So, I should stay so he _thinks _you're there. I'll sleep in your bed until this whole thing blows over."

"Veena, it's not safe—"

"Hey, Elena, there you are. Ok." A girl named Dana says as she walks over to us. "This is going to sound freaky, but this totally hot guy just asked me to ask you if you're going to the dance tonight."

Elena glances over to me with a sheepish smile and I raise my eyebrows. "Stalker Stan has a crush on you." I tease, to which she rolls her eyes.

"You could at least meet him." Dana continues, staring Elena down with a cheerful attitude. "He'll be at the dance tonight. Look for him. His name is Klaus."

I drop the fork in my hand and stand up, looking around for this guy, who appears to not have enough balls to show himself.

"I'm sorry, what did you just say?" Elena asks through her shocked state.

"His name's Klaus? I know the name's stupid, but I swear he's hot." Dana says.

"Where is he?" I ask Dana. "Is he here in the school?"

She takes a few seconds to think about. "I…don't know." Elena and I share a look, signaling we both immediately know that she's been compelled. "But he wants to know if you'll save him the last dance. How _cute_ is that?"

Using my supernatural skills of persuasion, I tell Dana to go away. She does so without thinking, waving goodbye to the both of us.

"That wasn't fair. You shouldn't have done that." Elena tells me, displeased.

I ignore her and dial Damon's number, before pausing and erasing the numbers, opting instead to go and find Stefan. It takes me a few minutes, but when I do find him, I pull him aside in the hallway.

"Veena? What's—"

"Klaus is going to be at the dance tonight."

"How do you know?"

"He compelled Dana to ask Elena if she'll save him 'the last dance,' as he so creepily put it." Stefan looks very disturbed by this information. "Is there any chance you could convince her to just stay at home with you tonight?"

"I doubt it. She's going to want to be there so none of her friends will get hurt. Especially you and Jeremy."

"I can't go if she goes, Stefan. Klaus would know about me and then I can't—" I cut myself off when Stefan gives me a questioning look and change what I was going to say. "It just wouldn't be a good idea."

"I think you should go." Stefan states. "If we keep you and Elena separate at all times, he will only ever run into one of you, never both of you. I can stay with Elena the whole time. I'm sure Damon wouldn't mind being your date." He comments slyly, a playful glint in his eyes. His serious look returns rather soon, though. "Look, I think we both know that Elena is prone to doing things that aren't in her best interest, so I would feel more comfortable taking her to the dance if you were there to help me stop her."

I sigh, debating the pros and cons. Of course I want to be there and I completely agree with Stefan when he says Elena is prone to doing stupid things, but there's some other things standing in the way. "I would have to be wearing the exact same thing as her, the exact same accessories and hairstyle…"

"We will figure it out. The important thing is that you're there. Besides, you don't want to miss out on all the fun and have Caroline yell at you for not going to the dance she helped plan." Stefan teases. I can't help but laugh at that statement. He couldn't be more right about Caroline's reaction.

* * *

"Twiggy or sexy hippy?" Elena asks Stefan as we search through a box of clothes from the sixties.

"Damon just had this…laying around?" I question as I continue to shuffle through the clothes. Normally, I would never wear the same clothes as Elena at the same time. I hated the idea of being _completely _identical to my sister. I needed to have a separate identity.

Stefan and I filled Elena in on the plan to wear the same thing, but so far we weren't having any luck. Elena didn't really like the idea of me pretending to be her if I was confronted by Klaus, but we all agreed it was best if Klaus doesn't know I exist. I didn't mention the fact that I was planning on pretending to be her for the sacrifice, too.

"There should be another one of the purple dress in there." Damon comments from the doorway.

I turn my head and lock eyes with him, straightening my posture slightly. After staring a little bit too long, I return my attention to the box and search until I find the extra purple dress. "Looks like luck is on our side today." I say to Elena, wiggling the purple dress around on the hanger.

Elena chuckles softly. "Good, we're going to need all the luck we can get."

"So, hair. Up? Down? What's the verdict?" I ask her, given I'm the one pretending to be her.

"High ponytail, bangs clipped to the side." She says, tossing me a pair of earrings, still hooked into the paper package. "I got two pairs of these earlier when I was shopping with Bonnie. I figured we could wear these white boots that I happen to have an extra pair of." She slides the box over to me.

I nod, glancing from Damon, to Stefan, to Elena. "Sounds good to me."

Stefan and Elena leave the room, Elena with one of the purple dresses, leaving me and Damon alone.

"So, looks like I'm your date for the evening." Damon says as he comes closer toward me.

"Looks like it." I reply absentmindedly, trying to appear cool as I pull my liquid foundation out of my purse to apply to my neck for the seventh time today.

"Ooh, I got you good, didn't I?" He comments, brushing my hair to the side to reveal the trail of hickeys on my neck.

"I've been covering them up all day." I tell him with slight bitterness. In all reality, I'm not actually upset with him. "These have faded quite a bit, too. You should have seen them this morning."

"Mmm, I wish I could have." He replies huskily, hands resting on my hips as he presses a kiss to the back of my shoulder.

I want, so badly, to just relax into him, but the dance has already started, and I need to get changed. Not to mention the guilt I'm feeling right now, keeping my plans for the sacrifice from him. "I have to get ready." I tell him reluctantly.

Ten minutes later, I'm ready to go. The ponytail wasn't too hard to accomplish, so once I added the dress, earrings and boots, I was ready.

Stefan drives all of us to the dance in his car. When we arrive and enter the gymnasium, decorations are set up all over the room. Music from the sixties floods the room and many of my classmates dance to the beat with each other.

As Elena and I walk side by side, we come to a stop by Caroline and Matt, who are dancing together.

"Wow," Caroline says when her eyes land on us. "I don't think I've seen you guys dressed in the exact same thing since kindergarten."

"Yeah…it's weird." Matt says, though he looks very confused. "So, I'm probably an ass for asking this, but who's who?"

Elena chuckles and rolls her eyes. "I'm Elena."

"What? No, I'm Elena, Matt." I tell him seriously. He only grows more confused.

"Ha ha. Very funny." Elena comments dryly, flicking my arm.

"Come on, Veena. Don't be _childish._" I tell her in a condescending tone which is very much Elena.

"So, quarterback, who's who?" Damon asks from beside me.

"Uh…" He plays with his collar, loosening his tie a little bit. "That's Elena." He points to me, causing my lips to quirk into a smirk. "That's Veena." He points to Elena.

"Ha! I win! I am champion of everything!" I taunt to Elena, doing a little victory dance. Matt makes a noise of defeat.

"I thought we were closer than that, Matt!" Elena says disapprovingly, but she makes sure to remain playful. Stefan chuckles and regains Elena's attention, cupping her face and pressing a kiss to her lips.

Damon puts an arm around my waist and whispers in my ear, "We should split from the happy couple. Much more of watching them devour each other's faces and I might puke."

I nod and let him lead me away, but not before Caroline tells me she and I _will _have a slow song together, since we are the cutest pair to ever grace the state of Virginia.

"Thanks for being here, everybody!" Dana says over the microphone, causing the entire crowd to clap and cheer. "We have a special shout-out tonight. This is for Elena. From Klaus." Damon and I immediately start looking around for said creep as the crowd claps again, but he's nowhere to be seen.

"That was a lame, cheap shot." Damon comments, a hand on the small of my back. I nod my head in agreement. "What's with the twin dress up games? I never thought I'd see you wearing the same thing as your sister."

I stiffen, wondering why he's asking me this. Didn't Stefan tell him the plan? "We thought it would be funny to see how our classmates react."

"Wouldn't that require you two to be right by each other at all times?" He questions, raising an inquisitive eyebrow as he continues to survey the room.

Thankfully, I'm saved from answering his continuous questions by the arrival of Ric.

"Special dedication, huh?" Ric asks, glancing between the two of us. "This guy's a little twisted."

"I'm not impressed." Damon says.

"No?"

"Let me know if you see anything out of whack." Damon leaves us to go talk to someone.

"So? What do you think?" Ric asks me. "Saving the last dance, song dedications…"

"It's all just a way for him to prove he doesn't have a small dick."

Ric looks somewhat shocked. "I don't think I understand what you mean."

"I mean, look at what he's done so far. Asking for the last dance, now the song dedication; he's just trying to prove he can be ballsy by infiltrating the safe zones." I explain, still looking around to see if Klaus has decided to show his face yet.

I decide to break off into the hallway to look around for Klaus. Instead, I find my brother Jeremy, wandering around, looking like a sad puppy who just got its toy taken away from it.

"Jer!" I call out to him. He turns around and looks at me expectantly. "Hey, what are you doing out here? Are you going to leave your date to dance by herself?" He just looks away from me, not saying anything. "Jer, what's wrong?"

"Nothing." He answers shortly, glancing around.

I wait for him to decide to go on and explain to me what's happening to make him feel this way, but he doesn't. "Jer, you can talk to me."

He hesitates for a few seconds, but finally decides to confide in me. "It's—it's Bonnie."

"What about her?"

"You know Bonnie is planning to take on Klaus tonight if he shows up." I nod, recalling how she is going to channel her dead, creepy ancestors to have enough power to kill Klaus. "If she channels all that energy, it'll kill her."

My eyebrows raise in shock. "What?"

"She doesn't want Elena to know, 'cause if Elena knows, she's going to try to stop her." He tells me, growing more anxious as he does. "And it's Elena that could turn up dead, so…" He takes a few shaky breaths. "What am I supposed to do?"

I take in a deep breath and shake my head. "We'll figure something out, okay? Nobody's dying tonight except for Klaus." I tell him firmly.

Jeremy nods and suddenly wraps his arm around me. I do the same in return, clutching him to me. I know how important Bonnie is to him.

* * *

I decided to tell Stefan about what Bonnie was planning to do. He told me he was going to tell Elena. As I walk back into the gym, I spot Damon and stalk over to him.

"Did you know?" I ask angrily.

"Know what?" He asks in a defensive tone.

"That Bonnie could _die _if she channels all that power?"

"Oh, good, Jeremy told you, I suppose?"

"What the _hell_, Damon?" I snap, shoving him away from me when I see Bonnie and Elena exiting into the parking lot. My feet carry me in the same path to find them arguing about what Bonnie plans on doing.

"No." Elena says firmly. "No!" She says again, her voice growing weaker.

"Bonnie," I start, shaking my head in confusion. "There's got to be another way."

"There isn't." Bonnie states confidently.

"Elena!" Ric comes running over to us.

"What is it?" She asks.

"He has Jeremy."

"What?!" Elena, Bonnie and I all ask.

"Yeah, Klaus has Jeremy. Come on." Ric heads toward the building again. We all follow him without even thinking about it, because it's _Jeremy_. If Klaus has him…what were any of our efforts worth?

"Okay, so where are you taking us?" Elena asks as we follow Alaric inside the building.

"Just a little further." He says breathily, walking with determination.

What the hell is going on here?

"Wait. Something's not right." Elena says, glancing behind us.

"Where's Jeremy?" Bonnie demands forcefully.

Alaric slows to a stop, chuckling. "I just had to get away from that dance. The sixties, ugh." He turns around and faces us. "_Not_ my decade. I mean, whose call was that, anyway?" He holds his hands out to his sides. "I much prefer the twenties. The style, the parties, the jazz."

"Alaric." Elena says seriously. "Are you on vervain?"

"Now why would you ask me that question, Elena?" Alaric retorts.

"He's being compelled." Elena says to us, taking a step back.

"Nope! Try again."

Bonnie puts her arm in front of Elena and I, her other arm out in front of her, ready to attack. "What's going on?"

Alaric sighs dramatically. "Okay, I'll give you a hint. I am _not _Alaric."

My confusion only grows, but Elena figures it out a few seconds later.

"Klaus…" She whispers.

"Surprise!" Klaus says in glee, a sickening smile on his face.

_No. _No, no, no!

"No, it's not possible." Elena states in disbelief.

"Just relax, Elena. I'm not here to hurt you. You're not on my hit list _tonight._" Klaus's eyes break away from Elena, landing on me instead. "_You_, Veena, and your witch friend, however…"

Bonnie uses what might as well be the fucking Force™ to fling Klaus back into the wall on the opposite side of the hallway.

Klaus groans and chuckles, pulling himself back onto his feet. "Now, did I mention that I know a witch? You're going to have to hit me a lot harder than that."

He charges toward us, but Bonnie sends him flying back yet again, this time into the trophy case, which shatters beyond recognition.

"By all means, fire away!" He tells her. "If you kill this body," he pulls himself up again. "I'll just get a new one. Maybe Jeremy." He taunts.

I flash toward him, pinning him to the wall by his neck. My eyes glaze over with blackness and Klaus smiles knowingly. "Ah, yes, Veena Gilbert, the succubus. I've heard you're a rather ferocious thing."

A growl burns in my throat as my grip on his neck tightens. I breathe in deeply as I steal energy from him, watching it lift out of his mouth in a white wisp. I stop when I'm confident he's weakened, because I don't want to kill Alaric. My hand pulls him back from the wall and throws him into the lockers on the other side of us with great force.

"Go. Run. Run!" Bonnie tells us. Elena looks hesitant, so I flash over to her, grab her arm and pull her away, running out of this hallway and into a different adjoining one. Bonnie follows us, flinging the doors shut behind us with her magic.

Damon rushes into the hallway, coming to a stop in front of us. "What _happened_?"

"Klaus took Alaric's body to use as his little plaything!" I tell him angrily.

"He's possessing it, or something." Bonnie says, expanding on my not so helpful analogy.

"Wait, he knows about you?!" He asks for clarification, his anger skyrocketing through the roof. "Dammit! How could you two let that happen?" He asks Elena and Bonnie.

"Damon, that's not important right now!" I say.

"Go find Stefan." He commands Elena and I. "_Now_."

I begin to protest, but Elena pulls me along with her. We run into Caroline and Matt on the way to find Stefan. She tries to ask us what's wrong, but Matt doesn't know about anything supernatural, so Elena dismisses her worry.

Stefan spots us and Elena rushes over to him. His attention is immediately wrapped up in her, so I manage to slip away without being noticed.

I rush back to Bonnie, following her as she stalks through the halls, looking for Klaus.

"What are you doing?" She asks me when I fall into step with her.

"Protecting my sister, same as you." I challenge. She glances at me, raising an eyebrow, but continues on and doesn't argue. "Besides, I really don't want you to die."

Bonnie slows down as we come upon the broken pieces of glass scattered all around. We both look to the left, where Klaus is sitting at one of the tables in the cafeteria.

"What took you so long?" He asks, a knife in his hand, eyes glued to Bonnie. "Now, do you want to do this the easy way, or the hard way?"

Bonnie holds her hand out and twists it, making Klaus groan in pain as his wrist breaks and the knife slides across the floor.

I run forward to assist her, but a splitting pain aches through my skull, causing me to clutch my head and scream in agony. Bonnie looks toward me, but I glare her down and shake my head through whatever consciousness I have left. She has to focus on killing Klaus. "No, Bonnie." I cry out.

"Don't worry, Bonnie." I hear Klaus say as I grow woozy. "I'll make sure to take good care of our little succubus here."

I collapse onto the tile floor and manage a few fading whimpers as someone's arms go underneath me and pull me up.

I black out.

* * *

Stefan walks into the living room, back at the boarding house. Elena sits in a chair near the fireplace, tears rolling down her cheeks from experiencing Bonnie's death.

"Hey…" He whispers, walking toward her. "Here, drink this." He extends the black mug in his hand toward her.

"I can't." She says quietly.

"Yeah. Yeah, you can." He crouches down, setting the mug in her lap.

Elena picks it up, brings it to her lips, only to erupt into shuddering gasps. "This is my fault."

"No, no, no, no, no. Listen to me. This was Klaus. _Klaus_ did this."

The front door opens and Damon walks inside.

Elena's eyes flash up to him, standing as she asks, "What did you do with her?!"

"Would you please calm her down?" Damon asks Stefan.

"Don't talk like I'm not standing right in front of you." Elena says, shaking her head.

"Please. Calm. Down." Damon says to her, widening his eyes.

"You knew. Didn't you? You knew that if she harnessed all that power that she would die, didn't you?"

"Yes." He says immediately. "Yes, I knew."

Elena's palm whips across Damon's cheek in her anger. Damon keeps his composure long enough to say, "You need to listen to me and prepare for what I'm about to say." Elena gives him a confused look. "Bonnie had to die. Klaus using Alaric's body was a total surprise. She wasn't prepared for that. And he wasn't going to stop. And we weren't going to be able to stop him until he knew she was _dead_. He had to believe it." Elena's eyes light up with hope. "She cast a spell. Bonnie's okay."

Elena sighs in relief when Damon finishes explaining to her.

Soon, Elena is set up with a video call to Bonnie.

"_Tell her how sorry I am for what Damon and I had to do._" Bonnie's voice says through the speaker.

"_Well, uh, why don't you tell her yourself?_" Jeremy responds.

"Bonnie!" Elena exclaims in relief upon seeing the face of her best friend.

"_Elena._" Bonnie says, tears tightening her throat. "_Elena. Elena, I'm so sorry._"

"It's okay, it's okay. I just needed to see for myself." Elena says.

"_There wasn't enough time for me to tell you._"

"It's okay, seriously. Damon explained it all." Elena tells her, smiling wide at the sight of her best friend.

"_Where's Veena?_" Jeremy asks, moving into view of the camera.

"She's not with you guys?" Elena asks in panic.

"_Elena…_" Bonnie starts. "_Veena followed me when I went looking for Klaus. I saw the power she had when she attacked Klaus in the hallway. She was going to help me fight him, but…_" Her voice breaks just as Damon comes back down the stairs and into the living room, eyes alight with questioning terror. "_One of Klaus's witches showed. She went down and I—I wanted to help her, but she told me not to. She wanted me to protect you._"

"What are you saying?" Elena asks, new tears forming in her eyes.

"_Klaus said he would take good care of her._"

"_What the hell is that supposed to mean?!_" Jeremy asks.

"_She fainted and the witch took her away. I'm so sorry, Elena._"

Bonnie breaks into sobs. Elena shakes her head and cries again. Jeremy punches something off camera. Stefan looks at the computer screen in disbelief. Damon grows angry and clenches his fists by his side. In the next second, he's out of the boarding house, leaving everyone else behind.

* * *

**Sorry for so much of the same thing you've already seen in the show, but the canon plot for that episode needed to be applied here for my plot to work out the way it needs to.**

**What did you guys think? Love it? Hate it? Let me know in the reviews!**

**Thank you for reading!**


End file.
